July 21, 2008

Los Angeles, CA - A pair of LMU golfers posted impressive showings as they continued their summer march through the local and national amateur tournaments. Brian Locke qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and advanced to the final rounds, while Blake Nicolai advanced at the Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship.

Locke, a soon-to-be senior from Los Angeles, shot a two-round score of 137 Monday and Tuesday, July 14-15, to be among 64 qualifiers for the match-play portion of the U.S. Amateur Public Links, held at Murphy Creek Golf Club in Aurora, CO.

In the round of 64 on July 16, Locke defeated Wiese 3 & 2 to advance to Thursday's round of 32. Locke jumped to the lead early, winning the first three holes and four of the first five. He birdied the par-4 first hole and then hit par on the next four holes to go 4 up. Locke would only lose one hole, the par-4 12th to advance.

In the round of 32 Locke round into a little tough luck to fall to Kelly Kretz of Antigo, Wis., 2 & 1. Locke fell down by three holes after Kretz won the fifth, sixth and seventh holes. However, Locke erased the lead on the next two holes and was down by just one at the turn.

Kretz took a two-hole lead with a win on the 11th. The lead would disappear as Locke won the 12th and 13th thanks to a pair of pars. Then luck was on Kretz' side as he holed in from the fairway on back-to-back holes. He eagled the par-4 14th and then did one better, hitting his second shot in on the par-5 15th for a rare double eagle or albatross. The back-to-back scores of two put him up two holes with just three to play. They played even on 16 and 17 to give Kretz the win.

Murphy Creek Golf Course will play at 7,551 yards and a par of 36-35--71. It will be the longest course in APL history surpassing Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove, Minn., which was 7,132 yards in 2004.

For final scoring: USGA.

Nicolai, who just completed his sophomore season, qualified for the 109th SCGA Amateur and made the weekend cut of the championship. He posted an opening round of 76 and then followed that with another 76 to make the cut of the top-42 to advance to the final rounds last Saturday and Sunday. He finished with a third round 75 and a final round 80 for a tie for 33rd. He finished with a four-round score of 307. It was the first 72-hole tournament of his career.

The SCGA Amateur is one of the nation's oldest continuously contested amateur golf championships. The first SCGA Amateur was held less than one year after the Southern California Golf Association was formed on July 29, 1899. Only the Utah Amateur, begun in 1899, has a longer consecutive string (the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur both predate the SCGA Amateur but both USGA events were suspended during war years).

For complete scores for Nicolai, visit: SCGA.