Championship Links:
Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho shot rounds of 68-72 to win the 9th Washington State Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship, held this week on the par-72 Rope Rider course at Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash.
The two-day 36-hole stroke play championship was conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA).
On a blustery day where just one player finished with a score under-par, Hatley was able to snag the lead after three holes and never looked back. Hatley had started today’s final round in solo second place, one shot behind leader Jacob Koppenberg of Bellingham, Wash. who finished in second place.
“Today was pretty difficult compared to yesterday” said Hatley. “I didn’t look at anyone else’s score until I had hit my second shot on 18 and realized I had a two-shot lead.”
“I’m proud of myself for hanging in there; this was one of those days where you can kind of let things get away from you.”
Hatley and Koppenberg were the only players in the full field of 120 to finish the championship under-par.
This marks the second time in three years that Hatley has won this championship, after winning previously in 2016. Hatley has been named the WSGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year the past three years (2015-17) and last week qualified for the 2018 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Earlier this year, he tied for sixth in the Mexican Amateur, made it to the quarterfinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur, and was a member of the three-man WSGA team that won the Morse Cup competition of the 2018 Pacific Coast Amateur, held last month at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Koppenberg, a former collegiate standout on the Western Washington University Men’s Golf Team, and current volunteer assistant coach, was the qualifying co-medalist last week for the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and earlier this summer was the medalist in qualifying for the 2018 U.S. Amateur. In July, Koppenberg made it to the quarterfinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur.
The Rope Rider course was designed by Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy, and opened in 2011, when it was immediately named the Best New Course of the Year by Golf Magazine. Rope Rider previously hosted the Washington State Men’s Mid-Amateur in 2013, and also was the site of the 2015 and 2017 Washington State Amateur Championships.
Founded in 1922, the WSGA is a 501c4 non-profit, amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers. Serving nearly 70,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout the state of Washington and Northern Idaho, the WSGA works to continually expand the game of golf to people of all backgrounds.
The WSGA also serves as a statewide representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game.
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