Californian clinches NM Open with 30-foot birdie on 18
Tyler Torano finds the right touch, earns $14,000 prize See CALIFORNIA >> D4
While Nyasha Mauchaza and Daniel Miernicki were having a shootout on the front nine in Thursday’s final group of the 64th New Mexico Open, Tyler Torano was just trying to find his swing.
Torano, a 25-year-old from Chula Vista, Calif., not only found his swing. He created a huge swing on the scoreboard and took home the $14,000 first prize in the $85,000 event.
Torano capped the 54-hole tournament with a 30-foot birdie bomb on 18 to clinch the win at 18-under 198 at Sandia Golf Club.
Miernicki (66-67-67), who is from Santee, Calif., was tied for the lead heading to the final tee box but found the lake on his approach, made bogey and finished 16 under. Mauchaza (69-6467), who was born in Zimbabwe and lives in Port Saint Lucie, Fla., made it a three-way tie heading to 17 but also finished at 16 under.
“It was just one of those days that I was struggling with my swing the entire front nine,” said Torano, who graduated from
Loyola Marymount in 2014 and plays on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. “I was scrambling and only hit two greens on the front nine. Fortunately I was making a lot of par putts to stay in it.”
And those putts came falling on the back, but most of the time for birdie.
Torano was at 12 under overall after his front nine and trailed Mauchaza and Miernicki by four shots. He made another nice scramble to save par on No. 10, then started sticking his approaches on greens and making every putt.
He birdied six of his final eight holes, including a 50-footer on the par-4 15th and a 2-inch tapin on 17 to set up the last-hole drama.
“I knew I had to make birdie on 18 to have a chance to win,” said Miernicki, who hit a gap wedge that just barely found the lake and led to a bogey on the last hole. “I probably bit off a little more than I could chew, but everyone in the group was just playing so well. I don’t remember the last time I was in a group that was playing like that.”
After taking his drop and penalty stroke, Miernicki, a 27-yearold University of Oregon graduate, missed his 40-foot par putt an inch to the right.
Torano then stepped up to his 30-foot birdie attempt, knowing if he just 2-putted, Mauchaza would need to make his 25-foot birdie to tie him.
“Truthfully, I was just trying to lag it and 2-putt because I knew Nash still had to make a pretty long birdie putt,” Torano said. “I was just trying to get it at the right speed, and fortunately it went in.”
Jim Knous of Littleton, Colo., finished fourth at 14 under while former champion Wil Collins was Albuquerque’s top player. The former tournament champion tied for 15th at 4 under. Albuquerque’s DJ Brigman, also a former winner of the event, was 3 under and tied for 19th.
Denver’s Nick Mason, the three-time defending champion, tied for 46th at 4 over.
Meanwhile, 2012 Albuquerque Academy graduate and part-time Houston resident James Lee captured the amateur division.
Lee, who next plans to play in an event in Asia next week, hasn’t been back to his Houston home since Hurricane Harvey devastated the city.
He said he will be back there in a couple of weeks.
“Watching that from the outside, wondering about so many friends and if they were safe, was just so difficult,” said Lee, who was in Albuquerque at the time of the hurricane. “You don’t worry about the stuff; the stuff is going to be destroyed. But trying to get in touch with friends was so difficult.”
Lee, 23, said, from what he knows, the condo he lives in — owned by his father, Albuquerque’s Paul Lee — “looks to be OK. I live on the third floor.”
The younger Lee graduated from Rice in 2016 and plays in a lot of amateur tournaments while working for Golf Performance Group in Houston.
Lee said he plans to turn pro in 2018, something his soon-tobe roommate just did.
Santa Fe’s Marty Sanchez, 23, a close friend of Lee’s for years, made his pro debut in the Open.
He shot a 2 under for the event and said he is looking forward to practicing with Lee in Houston.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, this being my first pro event,” Sanchez said. “I had a feeling I would be pretty nervous, and I was nervous. But then again, if you’re not nervous, why are you playing?
“The hard thing is going to be leaving home, but I think it’s kind of necessary at this level. It will be good being with James. We’ve been friends a long time and have the same ambitions.”
Sanchez, who graduated from West Texas A&M, said he will try to qualify for PGA Tour Latinoamérica in January.