Henderson golfer headed to US Amateur

Jackson Parrish is having a sizzling summer.

The Henderson resident and junior at Cal Poly blitzed an 80-player field at Boulder Creek Golf Club last week to earn medalist honors and one of two available spots into the U.S. Amateur. And he even did it with a double-bogey on his finishing hole.

Parrish shot rounds of 63-67 to finish at 14-under 130 to claim the top spot. Utah junior Braxton Watts grabbed the other spot at 13 under. Mason Snyder, the 2022 Nevada Class 5A individual champion at Palo Verde and an incoming freshman at Loyola Marymount, is first alternate after finishing 11 under.

Medalist honors and a ticket into the nation’s top amateur event are just part of an impressive three-week run by Parrish. He won the Nevada State Match Play Championship in late June, then followed up a week later with a second-place finish in the Southern Nevada Amateur, failing by a single shot of defending his 2022 title.

The performance comes after Parrish was the top player at Cal Poly last season, his first with the Mustangs after transferring from Colorado School of Mines, where he initially went after graduating from Liberty High. At Cal Poly last season, he posted a team-best 73.1 scoring average and had three top-10 finishes, including sixth in the Big West Conference championship at La Quinta. At Cal Poly, he plays for coach Phil Rowe, a longtime assistant at UNLV who left for the Mustangs in 2020.

To say Parrish overpowered Boulder Creek in the U.S. Amateur qualifier might be an understatement. He birdied half of his holes over the two rounds, including 10 birdies in his opening-round 63. He had gotten to 15 under through 30 holes and 16 under through 34 holes before the double to finish.

Watts attempted to put pressure on the leader. After an opening-round 67, Watts played a bogey-free final round that included six birdies and an eagle on the par-5 11th.

Among those who failed to qualify were UNLV senior Yuki Moriyama, who tied for fourth at 8 under, and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who withdrew after an opening round 71 had him in 14th place.

In qualifiers elsewhere, Fresno State senior and former Tech standout Matthew Manganello was co-medalist at a qualifier in Madera, California. He finished at 15-under 131 at Dragonfly Golf Club.

The U.S. Amateur will be held Aug. 14-20 at Cherry Hills Country Club outside of Denver. A total of 312 players will be in the field playing two rounds of stroke play. The top 64 players will move on to single-elimination match play after that.

U.S. Senior Amateur

James Corey’s chances of qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur were a long shot after 14 holes Monday at Red Rock Country Club. Then he went on a tear.

The Las Vegas resident birdied the final four holes to get to 3-under 69 and share medalist honors with Brett Curtis and wrap up the two available spots. Veteran Las Vegas player Kelly Knievel is first alternate after falling one shot shy with a 70.

Corey’s chances appeared to be gone after a bogey on the 13th dropped him to 1 over, but after a par on No. 14 he went 2-3-3-4 over the closing stretch to earn a trip to Martis Camp in Truckee, California, the week of Aug. 26.

Curtis, who lives in Sammamish, Washington, on the outskirts of Seattle, took a more traditional route to co-medalist honors. He made up for a double bogey on No. 2 with five birdies to secure his spot in Truckee.

The shock on Monday was Gary Carpendale, who has won all six SNGA Silver or Senior division tournaments he has played this season. Carpendale shot 82 in the qualifier to finish well back in the 50-player field.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.