GLENVIEW, Ill. – Auburn men's golf rising junior Brendan Valdes captured the first amateur title of his career Thursday at the Western Amateur after leading the tournament's stroke play portion from start to finish.
Valdes shot 66-66-68-69—269 (-15) at North Shore Country Club to edge out Oklahoma's Drew Goodman by two shots. The Orlando, Florida product has earned the No. 1 seed in the following match play stage. The low 16 men from stroke play will compete in head-to-head matches until one remains.
Also competing this week are Carson Bacha, Jackson Koivun, J.M. Butler and Alex Vogelsong. All five Tigers made the 36-hole cut; however, Bacha was the only other Auburn representative to join Valdes in the final stage. Bacha carded a 276 (-8) with a 74-66-70-66 performance.
In the opening round of matchups, Valdes and Bacha are paired together and will duke it out for a spot in the top quarterfinals.
Another Tiger that saw previous success at the Western is assistant coach Chris Williams as he earned medalist honors in 2011 and won both the stroke and match play stages in 2012. The last time North Shore Country Club hosted the Western was 2011. Other past champions of the event include Jack Nicklaus (1961), Phil Mickelson (1991) and Tiger Woods (1994).