BRENTWOOD — Jonathan Carlson of Buckingham shot rounds of 66 and 73 for a 139 total on Monday at Shadow Lakes Country Club in Brentwood to qualify for the United States Amateur Golf Championship on Aug. 18-24 at Pinehurst Resort and Golf Club in North Carolina.
Carlson”s 5-under-par total tied him for the low score of the day along with Robert Galletti Jr. of Clayton, who also shot 139 (66-73). Scott Herman of Ventura secured the third qualifying spot with 140 (68-72).
Carlson, an All-Coastal Mountain Conference golfer at Kelseyville High School and a collegiate golfer at Point Loma University, birdied the first and ninth holes on Monday morning and then recorded a bogey on the 13th hole. He then reeled off four birdies in a row on the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes to conclude his morning round.
Winds picked up during the afternoon session as Carlson recorded three birdies on the front nine only to be offset by a bogey on the sixth hole and five more bogeys on the back nine as well as a birdie on the 10th hole.
Carlson is a two-time defending champion of the Lake County Amateur. He created quite a local stir last September when he was the low qualifier at Fountaingrove Country Club in Santa Rosa for the United States Mid-Amateur contested at Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Carlson was the first Lake County golfer to qualify for a national championship.
Pinehurst, the site of next month”s U.S. Amateur, is a storied Donald Ross championship golf course that has historically been ranked in the top 10 of American golf courses. In 1961, Pinehurst hosted the Ryder Cup. More recently, it was the site of the 1999 U.S. Open won by the late Payne Stewart and the 2005 U.S. Open won by Michael Campbell of New Zealand.
