Caden Fiorini is the newest California Amateur champion
Caden Fioroni (SCGA Photo)
San Diego native Caden Fiorini claimed the biggest amateur golf prize in the Golden State.
Fiorini, the No.12 seed, defeated No. 18 Torey Edwards, 3 and 2, to win the California Amateur Championship title on Saturday at Sherwood Country Club. It's the second state title for Fiorini, who played last season at University of Las Vegas.
In 2019, he won the CIF Boys' High School State Individual title. As a bonus, the win also gave Fiorini an automatic exemption into this year's U.S. Amateur Championship.
With his win at Sherwood, Fiorini joins the likes of Xander Schauffele (2014), Mark O'Meara (1979), and Johnny Miller (1968) as California Amateur champions. It's the second time in the last nine years that a player with UNLV ties has won. Shintaro Ban was at UNLV when he won the title in 2016 at Valencia CC.
The big difference for Fiorini, who was the 2022 Mountain West Golfer of the Year, was a solid morning round. In the first 18 holes of the 35-hole final, Fiorini built a 4-up lead after making seven birdies and just one bogey. Helping Fiorini was red-hot iron play, as he'd hit every green in regulation during the round.
In the afternoon round, Fiorini kept the pedal to the metal, birding holes Nos. 19 and 23 to build a commanding 6-up lead. Edwards, a 42-year-old former professional who regained his amateur status and was the SCGA Player of the Year in 2020, cut the gap to 3-up with wins on holes Nos. 24, 26 and 27 but could never get any closer.
Fiorini, in the semifinals, had just squeaked past No.8 Logan Kim, 1-up. In that match, neither Fiorini nor Kim ever held more than a 2-up lead.
In his three matches prior to the semis, Fiorini never had to go farther than the 15th hole, winning all of those prior matches by identical scores of 4 and 3.
Pepperdine University junior Brady Siravo was the stroke play qualifying medalist after finishing with a two-day total of 12-under 132
ABOUT THE California Amateur
The Championship is open to amateur golfers
who have established current indexes of 4.4
and are members in good standing of the
Southern California Golf Association, the
Northern California Golf Association, or the
Public Links Golf Association of Southern
California. Nonexempt players must qualify. An
entrant may play in only one qualifying event,
even
if
the golfer
belongs to clubs in both Southern California
and Northern California. The 18-hole
qualifying
rounds will determine the qualifiers.
The championship field will play 36 holes of
qualifying at a Northern or Southern California
Location, with the low 32 golfers from that
combined field moving on to match play (with
a
playoff, if necessary, to determine the final
spots).
Two rounds each of 18-hole match play will
follow on Thursday and Friday and the 36-hole
final match will be on Saturday.
The location will rotate yearly between
Northern and Southern California locations.
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