Finigan Tilly of San Carlos captured the 96th California State Fair Amateur Championship by one stroke over Brett Viboch of Moraga and Blake Hathcoat of Fresno in temperature that reached 105 degrees on the Alister MacKenzie Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento.
Tilly, a senior at Cal who also won the 2019 AmateurGolf.com Silicon Valley Amateur and the 2017 Bayonet Blackhorse Amateur in addition to leading stroke-play qualifying at the 2019 San Francisco City Championship, trailed Hathcoat by one stroke entering the final round.
Hathcoat stretched his lead by making birdies on four of the first five holes in the final round, but Tilly stayed with him with three birdies on the front nine. When Hathcoat faltered with a bogey at No. 7 and didn’t make another birdie the rest of the way, Tilly took advantage with birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and added another that proved to be the winner at No. 17.
Viboch collected four birdies on the back nine but fell just short.
Tilly posted a winning score of 67-68-67—202, 14-under-par, Hathcoat finished at 70-64-69—203, and Viboch wound up at 67-68-68—203, while Nick Infanti of Clarksburg, Md., was fourth at 69-68-67—204.
Sam Harned of Rocklin shot 67-70-68—205 to tie for fifth with Ethan Farnham of Crystal Lake, Ill., who totaled 71-68-66—205, and Mason Greene of Tustin, who finished at 70-66-69—205.
Thomas Hutchison of San Jose carded a score of 72-69-65—206 to tie for eighth with Carson Berry of Eagle, Idaho, who wound up at 69-69-68—206, and Lucas Carper of San Jose, who came in at 70-68-68—206.
Two-time defending champion Devon Bling of Ridgecrest and UCLA finished in a tie for 18th at 72-70-67—209.
Previous winners of the California State Fair Amateur include Ken Venturi, Al Geiberger, George Archer, Dick Lotz, Bob E. Smith, Kevin Sutherland, Brandon Hagy, Matt Hansen and Verne Callison.
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