Cameron Whittle and Aaron Whalen
(WSGA Photo)
SPOKANE, WA (May 12, 2017) - Cameron Whittle of Moses Lake and Aaron Whalen of Ephrata pulled away from the field with rounds of 65-63 to win the 61st Washington State Men's Best-Ball Championship at Kalispel Golf and Country Club in Spokane, Wash.
Starting today's final round two shots behind first-round leaders Chris Bae of Issaquah and Brad Douglas of Redmond, the duo of Whittle and Whalen fired a string of birdies, as well as an eagle 3 on the par-5 16th by Whalen, en route to an 8-under par 63 to win by four shots over Matthew Steele and Tyler Matthews, both of Bellevue, who came charging up the leaderboard today by posting a 9-under 62, the low round of the championship and were the leaders in the clubhouse, waiting and watching as the final groups finished.
Steele and Matthews are two-time winners of this championship (2014, 2015), but couldn't make up enough ground after posting a 1-under par 70 in yesterday's first round.
Whalen is a former 2A high school individual champion who has earned his way into major events such as the 2015 U.S. Amateur, while Whittle is a past member of the Whitworth University men's golf team. The two came ready to play. "It was fun," Whalen said. "We both played pretty solid, made minimum mistakes. It just all went well." The duo combined to go 4-under par on their last four holes in today's final round. "We had an idea of how we stood (against the field)," Whalen said. "But we just wanted to keep making birdies. We were on a streak, so just kept it going."
Whalen drove the 332-yard par-4 first hole for an easy two-putt birdie, and that set the tone for the day for the team.
Finishing third, five shots back of Whittle and Whalen, is the duo of Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho and Nate Hair of Edwall, Wash. Hatley is a two-time WSGA Men's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2015, 2016), and Hair had won the 2014 Pacific Northwest Master-40 Amateur.
View results for Washington Men's Best-Ball
ABOUT THE
Washington Men's Best-Ball
36-hole four-ball stroke play, gross and net
competitions.
Must be a member of a WSGA member club.
Senior and regular flights. Partners'
handicaps
must be within eight strokes. Field filled by
exempt players and then order of receipt.
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