Sean-Karl Dobson (photo by Conner Penfold)
Sean-Karl Dobson eagled the first hole at Baylands Golf Links to set the tone for Saturday’s opening round of the Amateurgolf.com Silicon Valley Amateur.
The competitive course record, posted 364 days ago by eventual champion
Weston Payne at the tournament’s inaugural event, was in dire jeopardy.
“I had a pretty tough season last year,” said Dobson, a senior at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. “I took from Thanksgiving to now off just to reset and refresh. I got the competitive drive to come back out here and it’s rewarding to know that I did the right thing.”
Dobson punished the par-5s, birdieing the remaining four on the course following the introductory eagle. And just like Payne’s round almost exactly one year ago, Dobson’s near-perfect day featured no bogeys. But the Stanford commit admits he left a few extra red numbers out there.
“The longest putt I made all day was four feet, so I was just sticking it,” Dobson said. “I had three putts from eight feet lip out.”
So it was fitting, then, that his record-sealing putt on 18, after navigating a tricky greenside bunker, lipped in on the left edge to confirm the 10-under 62.
Dobson’s playing partner and fellow high school class of 2022 graduate
Cameron Keith chipped in for eagle at 18 to jump into solo second place at 5-under. Keith, a commit to Dartmouth University who plays for De La Salle High School in Concord, birdied his first three holes of the day but fell quickly back to even through seven.
The closing eagle means he’ll play again with Dobson in Sunday’s final round, leapfrogging over a half dozen players tied for third at 4-under.
One of those six is mid-amateur leader
Nate Jetter who birdied six of his last seven to post 68. He leads
Rob McLaren and
Matthew Lehman by four.
In the Senior Division,
Michael Staskus also went bogey-free but didn’t circle nearly as many numbers on his scorecard. The 2021 Christmas Classic Senior winner birdied one and 18 to bookend his opening round nicely.
Tony Ralph is alone in second at 2-under 70 followed by a trio of 71s –
Richard Maxwell,
Greg Langford, and
Daniel O’Connor.
Michael Wishart leads the Super Seniors by one at 75 over
Tom Pera.
ABOUT THE
AGC Silicon Valley Amateur
>>
2024 TOUR
PORTAL
The Silicon Valley Amateur is the first
AmateurGolf.com
tournament to have, on its past winner's list, a
MAJOR
champion. That would be Collin Morikawa, who
won
the
2016 title. Just over four years later, he won
the
PGA
Championship just up the road at TPC Harding Park
in San Francisco. Multiple PGA Tour star and
Morikawa's
fellow 2023 USA Ryder Cup team member Max Homa
also
won the
Silicon
Valley Amateur
in 2011.
For 2024, the tournament is moving to a new venue
--
Stanford University Golf Course. Tournament players
will relish competing at a course normally reserved
for
university students and faculty.
Please note that
we will
play on Monday and Tuesday, and expect this event
will
fill very quickly.
Related: The road to PGA stardom for Homa
and Morikawa went through the Silicon Valley
Amateur
DIVISIONS
CHAMPIONSHIP
For players aged 16 and over who have a USGA or
equivalent index of less than 5.5
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
For players age 50 and over (as of the tournament
date) with a handicap index of less than 8.0. Note:
Must be 55 and over for NCGA Senior Points.
MID-AM (subdivision of Championship)
For players age
25-
49. Compete alongside the younger players in the
Championship Division, (same tees, same prize
opportunities) and if there are at least six Mid-Ams,
a
separate prize and trophy will be awarded.
SUPER SENIORS (subdivision of Senior)
For players age
65+. Compete alongside the younger senior players
in
the
Senior Division, (same tees, same prize
opportunities) and if there are at least six players 65
or
over, a
separate prize and trophy will be awarded for low
super senior.
WOMEN (subdivision of Championship)
Will play in the
Championship
Division but
from a shorter tee. If there are at least six women in
the field, a separate prize and trophy will be
awarded.
View Complete Tournament Information