Woodbridge’s Reeves in Cal Amateur Round of 16
Brad Reeves has had his back against the wall twice, but he’s still swinging in the 109th California Amateur Championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
A day after making a birdie on the final hole of stroke play to make the cut for the match play portion of the tournament, the Woodbridge native recovered from three holes down to defeat Matt Cohn of San Francisco 1 up in Wednesday’s Round of 32.
“I knew the course was playing hard, and I told myself to keep plugging away when I was down 3 with 6 to go,” Reeves said. “I thought maybe pars could get it done, and put my head down and I kept making pars. He made a couple of mistakes.”
Cohn, who tied for second in the tworound stroke play portion, won the second, fourth and eighth holes to lead by three after the front nine. Reeves came back to win holes 13, 14 and 16 to tie the match, then won 17 to take the lead. Both players made par on the final hole.
It is Reeves’ second trip to the Cal Amateur Round of 16 — he made it this far in 2018 as well.
“Today they put it all the way back, so it was roughly 7,800 yards,” Reeves said. “It’s Torrey Pines South, a U.S. Openstyle golf course. It’s not an easy golf course. Scoring low is very doable, the weather is perfect. Scoring conditions are good. If you can get it rolling, it’s perfect.”
Today, Reeves will tee off against La Jolla’s Joey Vrzich, who tied for seventh in stroke play and defeated Domingo Jojola of Carmichael 4-and-3 in the Round of 32.
Reeves tied for 22nd in stroke play, with a 70 on the North Course on Monday and a 72 on the South Course on Tuesday for a 2-under 142.
“I kind of knew where I stood. I had to birdie the last hole to get into the match-play portion,” he said. “I was the last group playing, and I knew where the cut was. There was obviously that extra motivation, but I just had to do what I’ve been trying to do, execute to the best of my ability. I’m not trying to get ahead of myself.”
Also in the tournament was Lodi High’s Jake Aberle, who shot a 77 on the South Course and a 74 on the North Course for a 7over 151 to miss the cut. Stockton’s Aram Barberian was the only other player from the local area, with a 157.
Reeves said it has been difficult to keep his playing form after his senior season at the University of Arizona was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He played in the Memorial Amateur in Carmichael in early July, and the Southern Amateur in Texas in
the middle of the month.
“Those were kind of good stepping stones to get back into the swing to things,” he said. “I try to stay as competitive as I can with local competition, with friends and family around Lodi.”
His best competition to stay ready while roaming the fairways at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club? His former Lodi
High teammate and current Texas Christian player, Justin Gums.
Reeves graduated from Arizona in the spring, earning his bachelor of science in business administration/business management. Since the NCAA has granted an extra year of eligibility to studentathletes who lost their spring season, he plans to return for one last year of golf at Arizona while starting on the masters program in real estate development.