William Mouw of Chino, Calif., sank a 22-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Connor Jones of Westminster, Colo., and win the 118th Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship at Denver Country Club in Denver, Colo.
Luke Sample of New York City was eliminated when he made a bogey on the first extra hole as Mouw and Jones both had pars. Jones had a chance to prolong the playoff but he missed a 15-foot birdie putt to make Mouw the winner.
“It was pretty incredible to see that putt go in,” said Mouw, who also won the 2021 Amer Ari Invitational and the 2019 California Amateur Championship in addition to helping Pepperdine win the 2021 NCAA Championship. “That’s what you practice for, moments like this.
“This has been a culmination of hard work over the last three, four years. Digging it out of the dirt and having fun while I’m doing it.”
Mouw, who will be a senior at Pepperdine, posted a score of 66-68-68-69—271, 9-under-par, finishing regulation with nine consecutive pars, while Jones shot at 65-67-73-66—271, and Sample wound up at 71-69-67-64—271.
Kevin Huff of El Dorado Hills, Calif., totaled 68-70-65-70—273 to finish in a big tie for second with Jake Holbrook of Granberry, Tex., (72-65-67-69—273), Sampson-Yunhe Zheng of China (67-69-68-69—273), Alex Vogelsong of Palm City, Fla., (69-66-70-68—273), Jeffrey Guan of Australia (72-63-67-71—273, and Connor Gaunt of Cabot, Ariz., (65-69-68-71—273).
Defending champion Derek Hitchner of Minneapolis, Mouw’s former teammate at Pepperdine who also played on the 2021 national championship team, wound up at 69-69-67-69—274 to tie for 10th with Chase Sienkiewicz of Carmichael, Calif. (70-66-68-70—274), Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif. (69-66-71-68—274, Jack Wall of Brielle, N.J., (69-68-69-68—274), Jiri Zuska of the Czech Republic (64-70-69-71—274) and Harrison Crowe of Australia (67-65-73-69—274).
Past winners of the Trans-Mississippi Amateur include Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Bryson DeChambeau, George Archer, Gary Koch, Bob Tway, Mark Brooks, Deane Beaman, Bob Estes, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Champ, Pierceson Coody, Jim Weichers, John Fought, Scott McGihon, Kelly Kraft, Robert Wrenn, Brian Watts, Allen Miller and long ago legends Charlie Coe, Johnny Dawson, George Von Elm, E.H. Seaver, John Goodman, and Harry G. Legg.
For complete results, visit https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/7772999589442893611
