Young Talent, Old Trophy: Pepperdine's Mouw Takes Cal Am Title

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Chino resident William Mouw entered the 108th California Amateur Championship as the highest ranked player in the field in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

The 18-year-old Pepperdine freshman-to-be lived up to the billing, and will soon be making a quick ascent up from what will be a former No.58 ranking.

The No.24 seeded Mouw became one of the youngest California Amateur winners ever after defeating No.3 Christian Banke, 4 and 2, in Saturday’s 36-hole finale on the Dunes Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. The youngest champ ever remains Mac Hunter, who captured the title in 1972 at the age of 16.

Regardless, Mouw’s name joins a list of champions that includes Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller and Mark O’Meara.

“It feels great. It’s an honor to have my name with those guys,” said Mouw, who prepped at Ontario Christian High. “It was a great match. We both played great.”

Down a hole following the morning 18, Mouw instantly knotted things up with a win on the 19th hole when he stiffed his approach to within 3 feet of the pin for birdie.

After tying the next four holes, Mouw grabbed his first lead since early in the match when he drained a 15-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 24th hole (No.6). From there, his putter began heating up. Two holes later on the 26th hole (No.8), he sank a 7-foot birdie to go 2-up.

Following a Banke bogey on the par-3 28th hole (No.10), Mouw held a commanding 3-up lead. Banke, a senior at San Diego State and the younger brother of 2014 California Women’s Championship winner Sara Banke, got one hole back with a win on the par-4 29th hole (No.11) after nearly driving the green, but he’d never get any closer.

Just a hole later, Banke’s approach shot found the greenside bunker, leading to a bogey and re-upping Mouw’s cushion to 3-up. On the 34th hole (No.16), Banke tried to make something happen but pulled his drive far left. His second shot never reached the green, while Mouw got on in two. Banke’s last gasp third shot stopped far short of the flagstick, sealing the victory for Mouw.

“My putting wasn’t the best this week. I just told myself to just keep going. Some will eventually fall,” Mouw said. “I’ll enjoy this win, and then go home and get back to work on the greens.”

In the morning 18, Mouw at first looked like he was going to run away with it. He’d quickly build a 3-up lead through the first six holes before Banke, who had his father, Dana Banke, on the bag as caddie clawed his way back to not only tie the match but take a 2-up lead. A birdie on the 18th helped Mouw close the gap to just one hole as the two entered the break.

All week long, Mouw was able to rely on his father, Billy, who was his caddie, for support. Billy Mouw owns and operates a chicken farm in Chino.

But Mouw also got help during the week via some phone calls with his mental coach. That also helped Mouw get through the grind of what is a long week. Over just the last two days of competition, Mouw estimated that he’d walked a total of around 23 miles.

“My mental coach and I talked about how long the week is and that I needed to just keep plodding along with no big expectations. Visualize, verbalize and realize,” said Mouw, who hit 15 of 16 greens in the afternoon round. “This is going to be a great confidence booster going into college.”

Recap courtesy of NCGA

Past Winners