Area golfer shoots 80 in 1st round of U.S. Junior Amateur
Published 1:30 am Monday, July 15, 2019
TOLEDO, Ohio — Alvin Kwak, a recent graduate of Kamiak High School, stumbled to a first-round 80 at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at the Inverness Club on Monday.
Kwak is tied for 122nd place after the first day of stroke play at Inverness, 11 shots back of co-leaders William Mouw and Karl Vilips, who each shot 2-under-par 69 Monday. The Columbia-bound Kwak qualified for the event by sharing medalist honors at a sectional qualifier in Gig Harbor on June 17.
Kwak must be in the top 64 by the end of Tuesday’s second round of stroke play if he is to advance into Wednesday’s match-play phase of the tournament.
Kwak played in an afternoon group and began his round on No. 10. He made only one birdie in his round, on the 406-yard, par-4 No. 16. He battled through eight bogeys and a double bogey on the 442-yard, par-4 No. 4 hole before closing with three consecutive pars on Nos. 7, 8 and 9.
This is Kwak’s third appearance at the U.S. Junior Amateur, an event for golfers from round the world under the age of 19. He missed the cut as a 14-year-old in 2015 at Colleton River Plantation Club in Bluffton, South Carolina, and fell in the round of 32 at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kansas in 2017.
