Echavarria Tied for First, Four at Southern

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Soon-to-be University of Arkansas freshman Nicolas Echavarria is making a name for himself on the summer golf circuit and his performance at the 65th U.S. Junior Amateur is just one reason why.  Echavarria finished two rounds of stroke play competition at three-under par to tie for first and advance to the match play portion of the event.

Echavarria was among the leaders in the competition the entire first day until a bogey-double bogey finish put him just a pair of strokes behind first place.  Shooting two-under par for the day, Echavarria was as low as five-under par at The Golf Club of New England in Stratham, N.H. before his first-round finish.  In the second round, Echavarria was quickly two-under par with back-to-back birdies on No. 3 and No. 4 and closed out the front nine at two under.  He posted a single bogey over his final 10 holes with nine pars to move back into the first-place tie after 36 holes.

Echavarria’s finish in the stroke play portion of the event is considerably better than his tie for 30th in 2011.  Making the field of 64 for match play in 2011, Echavarria won four matches to advance to the semifinals of the event before he eventually lost in 19 holes to the runner-up.

The US Amateur continues with the match play round of 64 on Wednesday, July 18, in a win-or-go-home tournament.  Pairings for the match-play portion of the event will not be finalized until late Tuesday.

A quartet of golfers will play in the Southern Amateur this week, beginning on Wednesday, July 18, and running through Saturday, July 21.  Senior Austin Cook, sophomore Kolton Crawford, junior Joe Doramus and freshman Zach Coats are three of 168 competitors that will take on the Chenal Country Club course in Little Rock, Ark.

Doramus has the first tee time of the day for the Razorbacks, setting up at 7:30 a.m. on the first hole.  He’ll be followed by Coats (9:20 a.m. on 10), Cook (1:30 p.m. on 10) and Crawford (1:40 p.m. on 10).  The four-round tournament will make a cut after the second day of competition and last year it took a score of nine-under par to win the event.