Jackson Parrish fired rounds of 63-67—130 to earn medalist honors in the 2023 U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifying tournament held July 11-12, 2023, at Boulder Creek Golf Club. The tournament victory earned him one of two spots in the 2023 U.S. Amateur that will be held Aug. 14-20, 2023, at Cherry Hills Golf Club in Colorado.–by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
Braxton Watts, who carded a final-round 64, was runnerup to Jackson and earned the second spot from the Southern Nevada qualifying event. Mason Snyder is the first alternate and Craig McCoy is the second alternate.
For Parrish, who also won the Nevada State Match Play event earlier this month and was runner up at the Southern Nevada Amateur, it was a case of getting off to a red-hot start both days.
He was four-under-par through his first five holes each day (four birdies and one par each round) in coming out of the gate sizzling.
“I really like the first nine holes,” Parrish said. “They set up well for me and those starts certainly gave me momentum.”
He took that momentum and rode it all the way to medalist honors…with just a slight scare at the end.
“I had it to seven under for the day,” he said of his second round. “I knew I should have it locked up if I didn’t make any massive numbers…like a seven or an eight. I did come close with a six on the last hole, though.”
He hit his final tee shot of the tournament to the right and didn’t find the ball. Following a drop he laid up and then hit his fourth shot onto the green.
“I lipped out the bogey putt,” he said. “Lipping out a bogey putt sucks but as it turns out it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Now, finally, it’s on to the U.S. Amateur.
“I was close the last two years,” Parrish said. “I shot 10-under two years ago and missed it by two shots and shot eight-under last year and missed it by three.”
This year, he stepped up his expectations.
“I knew I would have to go low and would probably need 14 or 15 under,” he said. “I just wanted to go out and make as many birdies as possible.”
Mission accomplished as he put 10 birdies on the scorecard the first day and eight more on the second day.
“I’m real happy with where my game is right now,” he said. “Now I’ll just try to clean up a couple of things and get ready for Cherry Hills.”
He said making it to match play is now the priority.
“That’s the big goal,” he said. “And I think if I can do that, I have a good chance. I just won a match play tournament so I’m just hoping to get the highest seed I can going into match play and then take it one shot at a time.”
Watts, who is going to be a junior at the University of Utah, will also be making his first trip to the U.S. Amateur.
“I’m really stoked,” he said. “This is very exciting.”
He went into the second round four shots out of the lead but still confident in his chances of earning one of the two spots.
“I just wanted to keep it in play and give myself as many birdie chances as I could,” he said. “I wanted to play under control and play my own game. I figured if I went out and played a solid round, I could get it done. If not, it’s out of my hands at that point.”
In the end, he put an eagle and six birdies on his scorecard with no bogeys.
“It was a solid round of golf, that’s for sure,” he said. “It was good to play great golf outside the state of Utah.”
Now it’s time to refocus his expectations.
“I just want to get through stroke play and get to match play,” he said. “Then, anything can happen. I’ll just try to win as many holes as I can.”
2023 U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifying
Jackson Parrish, 63-67—130
Braxton Watts, 67-64—131
Mason Snyder, 65-68—133
Craig McCoy, 67-69—136
Yuki Moriyama, 66-70—136
