Han Seop Lee of Chino Hills overcame defending champion Edwin Kuang of Murrieta and windy conditions in the final round to capture the 26th Inland Empire Amateur Championship by four strokes on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at http://Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta.
The 18-year-old Lee, a former star on the Southern California PGA Tour who finished second to Kuang last year, built a five-stroke lead on the back nine in the third round to win with a score of 68-64-75—207, 8-under-par, while Kuang finished at 65-69-77—211.
Tristan Stone of San Bernardino was third at 73-71-71—215, while Connor O’Brien shot 73-68-75—216 to tie for fourth with Jacob Montes of San Diego, who finished at 65—75-76—216, and Chad Hambright of Lake Elsinore, who wound up at 69-71-76—216.
Myoung Kim of Costa Mesa posted a score of 74-72-71—217 to tie for seventh with Forbes Collins II of Lake Forest, who totaled 72-70-75—217, and Scotland Schmidt of San Diego, who came in at 73-68-76—217.
Adam Navigato of Solana Beach shot 74-73-71—218 to tie for 10th with Nick Cantlay of Los Alamitos, who won the Los Angeles County Amateur a week earlier and finished at 74-75-69—218 this time.
Edwin Rabanal of Corona won the A Flight with a score of 76-75-81—232, followed by Tom Lance of Riverside at 75-82-80—237, Patrick Johnson of Westminster and 78-80-81—239, Jeff Smith of Riverside at 74-81-85—240 and Paul Chan of Fountain Valley at 77-85-80—242.
Gary West of Riverside claimed the B Flight at 78-77-80—235, followed by Terry Ratterree of Indio at 85-86-88—259, Christopher Johnson of San Bernardino at 90-88-89—267 and George Thorp of Norco at 88-93-105—286.
Among the previous Inland Empire Amateur champions are Brenden Steele (2003) if Idyllwild and Aaron Wise (2014) of Lake Elsinore.
For complete results, visit https://scpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scpga18/event/scpga18144/contest/5/leaderboard.htm
