Woolsey Wins 110th California Amateur Championship

CARMEL, Calif. – University of Washington Golfer Noah Woolsey won the 110th California Amateur Championship on Saturday finishing with a 2 & 1 victory over Menlo Park's Weston Payne.
 
Saturday's final match against Payne was played over 36 holes with Payne taking an early lead out of the gate. Payne went 3-up over the first three holes and kept his 3-up lead until Woolsey won the 10th and the 12th to bring the lead back to just 1-up. Payne would get back to 3-up, a lead he would hold until the fifth hole of the second round when Woolsey rattled off three-straight wins to bring the match back to a tie.
 
After the turn, Woolsey won the 10th, 11th and 14th to get to his own 3-up lead. Payne cut it to 1-up by winning the 15th and 16th. Woolsey would then clinch the victory by winning the 17th for his first career California Amateur Championship with a 2 & 1 victory.
 
Woolsey advanced to the finals after a tense semifinal match against Thomas Hutchinson (San Jose, CA/UC Davis) that was sent to extra holes. Hutchinson was 2-up with five to play when Woolsey took the 14th and then won the 18th forcing a tie and extra golf. Woolsey went on to win the 21st hole sending him into the championship match.
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In both the quarterfinals and Round of 16, Woolsey held the lead throughout en route to two-straight victories. He defeated Charlie Reiter (Palm Desert, CA/University of San Diego) 3 & 2 in the quarterfinals and knocked out Matt Cohn (San Francisco, CA) with a 5 & 3 victory.  During the Round of 32, Woolsey picked up a  3 & 2 win over Finigan Tilly (San Carlos, CA/University of California). Tilly took an early 1-up lead but Woolsey went 1-up on the seventh hole and kept his lead throughout the rest of the round for the victory.
 
During the two-day opening stroke play rounds, Woolsey finished second out of 156 with an 11-under 133 (67-63) earning his spot in the match play portion of the prestigious tournament.