Luke Powell accounted for two of the three lowest rounds posted at the SoCal Junior Amateur Championship and successfully outdueled his future college teammate to clinch the 2022 title at Morongo GC on Sunday.
“I think I played solid,” Powell said. “Out here you can’t really miss a shot much and consistency was huge. It’s also really tough when you add in the weather element. I think the putting really helped. It saves you when you mess up and it’s the main point I’m going to continue focusing on into this offseason.”
Despite navigating heavy fog and rain, the incoming Santa Clara Bronco posted six birdies en-route to a stellar opening-round 68. Leading by one stroke headed into Sunday, Powell was pitted against Jeffrey Kwak (who also committed to Santa Clara) as part of the final group.
The two went back and forth, trading birdies and the lead for most of Sunday’s front nine. With an eagle on No. 6, Kwak had restored a one-stroke lead. Though Powell bogeyed No. 7 to make matters worse, he responded with a stretch of four consecutive birdies on Nos. 9-12 to establish a more comfortable two-stroke lead at the top of the leaderboard.
“It was so cool,” Powell said of playing against his future teammate. “Out there on (No. 6), he made an eagle and it put me back one. That definitely lit a fire under me, but I was able to come back and make four birdies in a row around the turn. To be with him and support each other the whole way no matter who was up was cool to see. I can’t wait (to play with him).”
Powell rolled in one more birdie on No. 16 for good measure, though his hot stretch to end the front and start the back proved to be enough to carry him to victory. He finished at ten-under 134. The only player to post a round lower than Powell’s (68-66) was Kai Hirayama (65), who eventually leapfrogged Kwak to finish runner-up at eight-under.
“I’m super stoked,” Powell said. “ A lot of hard work coming into this and to get this (championship) towards the end of the season feels great…I’m really happy with where my putting is going. It’s something I’ve been working on a ton and something I put a lot of time and effort into. Getting up and down and (my) short game, it’s huge to me out here. And it’s how you close out golf tournaments. You make putts at the end when they count.”
Kwak finished at seven-under to take home third place, followed by Aaron Huang in fourth place at four-under.