Sodetz cruises to second Las Vegas City Amateur title

Golf analysts love to say that you can’t win a tournament on the first day. Brett Sodetz proved that theory wrong at the Las Vegas City Amateur.

Sodetz fired an opening round 61 on Saturday at Las Vegas Golf Club, then cruised on Sunday to claim the title for the second time in four years.

Sodetz had a second-round 70 to finish at 13-under 131, good for a four-shot victory over Tongun Lako Losarah. Preston Harris, Mason Snyder and Cameron Barzekoff were another shot back.

“That was definitely a special round,” Sodetz said of his opening 61. “And I didn’t really do anything special. I hit fairways, and then hit everything to five to 10 feet and made a lot of putts.”

Sounds pretty special.

But special is something Sodetz has been doing a lot of in his limited years of golf. Just a sophomore at UNLV, Sodetz claimed this distinguished title once before, in 2018 as a junior at Coronado High School.

“This is definitely one of my favorite tournaments,” said Sodetz, who isn’t playing college golf. “Last year I finished about 10th or so. Obviously I played much better this year.”

Starting on the 10th hole for his opening round, he birdied five holes before the turn, then added six more on the front — including five in a row at one point — to pull away from the field.

He took a more conservative approach on Sunday, knowing somebody would have to go really low to catch him.

“When I had a shot to be aggressive with, I tried to take advantage of it,” he said.

The Senior City Amateur, held two days earlier on the same course, had a similar storyline.

Sean McManaman was the only player under par after the first day, and his 68 gave him a comfortable four-stroke lead. He added a 70 on Friday to finish at 6-under 138, good for a four-shot margin over Tony Ralph and five over Glenn Hogle.

McManaman had seven birdies in his opening round Thursday on a day where scoring was extremely difficult. When he birdied his first three holes Friday, the title was all but decided.

In the Silver Division, Douglas Pool won a playoff over Steven Fink after both finished at 8-under 136. They both shot identical rounds of 67-69 to reach the playoff.

Other winners at the tournament were Greg Pyszko (championship net), Jim Licausi (senior net) and Mark Williams (silver net).

Bryan earns honor

UNLV’s Sydney Bryan was named Mountain West Women’s Golf Freshman of the Month for October.

Bryan, from Mesa, Arizona, was co-medalist at the Dale McNamara Invitational in October where she finished at 4-under 212. UNLV also won the team competition in the tournament, held Oct. 11-12 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Bryan also finished 26th in the Jim West Invitational in San Marcos, Texas. Her second-round 69 in that event matched her single-round low as a college player, set a week earlier in Tulsa.

Korn Ferry Tour School

Four Las Vegas players will tee it up this week in the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School Finals in Savannah Georgia.

Simply by reaching the tournament, Kyler Dunkle, Alex Kang, Peter Kuest and Justin Suh will have status on tour for 2022. But how they finish in the 149-player Q-School finale will play a major role in how many starts they get.

Players who finish in the top 45 this week in Georgia are almost certain to get into as many of the 26 events on the 2022 schedule as they desire.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.