A trio of Greater Victoria golfers are teed up for next month’s U.S. Amateur Championship after topping qualifying play July 5.
Jack Rothwell and Craig Doell, Victoria Golf Club members, said intimate knowledge of the greens helped them earn their placements at the Oak Bay course.
“That was the ace up my sleeve today,” Doell said. “I have played here so many times. I know it pretty much better than anyone else. It was definitely nice to play your home course in a qualifier.”
Jack Swan, also a Greater Victoria player, claimed the third spot available to the 77 players.
Rothwell was the medalist, shooting rounds of 68 and 69 to finish at three-under par. Doell and Swan each finished at one under.
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Doell, 49, is a local investment adviser savouring the opportunity to play in his first U.S. Amateur having attempted twice before.
“It’s great. For me at my age, this is likely one of the last opportunities I will have at playing in the U.S. Am. It is one of the top tournaments in the world to play in, so it’s great to have that opportunity,” he said.
Rothwell, 20, and the 2019 B.C. amateur champion, returns this fall to Babson College, a private business school in Massachusetts, after taking a year off.
Swan is an Esquimalt High grad who just completed his freshman year at North Idaho College.
Duncan’s Tristan Mandur, who will defend his B.C. Amateur title next week at Storey Creek Golf Club in Campbell River, finished fourth and is first alternate.
The 121st playing of the U.S. Amateur runs Aug. 9 to 15 at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
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