A raucous applause as Nick Fowlkes’s championship-winning par putt dropped on the 72nd hole was a key indicator of how much it meant to the onlooking Valencia CC membership, because he is one of their own.
Fowlkes’s place in the field this week at the 127th SCGA Amateur Championship came by way of an exemption where the host club can pick an amateur to represent them in the event. Fowlkes did more than represent. He won the nation’s second-oldest amateur championship by three shots with his dad on the bag, making Valencia feel more like Hollywood – at least for the week.
In the final round, Fowlkes started with a two-shot lead over Coy Dobson (Del Mar, Calif.). Dobson would open with a birdie on the par 5 to pull within one shot. But that’s as close as it would ever get. Fowlkes responded with his own birdie on the very next hole and expanded his lead back to two shots when Dobson made a double bogey on the sixth hole.
Fowlkes battled with the true grit required to capture a championship. On a day where he missed six fairways (8/14) and seven greens (11/18), he leaned on his flatstick (28 putts) to grind out an even par 71. Totaled with his previous three rounds (69-68-71), he finished at 279 (-5), three clear of runner-up, Cole Kim (Orange, Calif.).
Fowlkes’ final round was not without adversity. On the front nine, he made three bogeys in five holes before setting up a kick-in birdie with a beautiful approach shot on No. 8, and he saved par on No. 9 with a 15-footer slider to keep the momentum heading to the back side.
His three birdies coming in featured a highlight-reel make on No. 17 that established a three-shot lead over Kim and put the championship on ice. With dozens in tow and a cart parade following him up the final fairway, Fowlkes made a routine par that would write his name in the history books.
As champion, his name will be on the same trophy that features Tiger Woods, Sahith Theegala, Patrick Cantlay, Beau Hossler and Rico Hoey. Additionally, Fowlkes receives a 10-year exemption to the SCGA Amateur Championship and, as part of the SCGA’s mission to provide a pathway to the national stage, an exemption into the 2026 U.S. Amateur Championship.