First Round Suspended at 115th Trans-Miss Amateur,
Salinda Leads with 8-under 64
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Isaiah Salinda shook off a three-putt bogey on the first hole to fire a brilliant 8-under-par 64 on Tuesday morning in the opening round of the 115th Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship at Brookside Golf & Country Club. After a weather delay for heavy rains and lightning in the area washed out the afternoon action, Salinda holds a two-shot lead with half of the 144-player field yet to finish their first round.
Play was suspended for the day at 4 p.m. local time. The first round will resume Wednesday at 8 a.m., and the second round will follow directly after it concludes. Following the second round, the field will be cut to the low 54 scores, including ties.
Salinda, a Stanford senior from San Francisco, quickly made amends for his early stumble. Starting on the second hole, Salinda reeled off four straight birdies and made a total of nine of them over the next 17 holes to stake his lead.
“I hit a lot of fairways. My irons were really good, a lot of good approach shots,” said Salinda, who finished tied for seventh place last summer at Prairie Dunes Country Club at the 114th Trans-Miss Amateur. “My putter got kind of hot. I made a lot of putts. It was a good round.”
It was good enough for a two-shot cushion over Justin Tereshko from Lexington, Ky., and Pierceson Coody from Plano, Texas. They both turned in 6-under 66s to share second place.
Tereshko, a 28-year-old mid-amateur who was married on June 30, also made nine birdies Tuesday. The winner of the 2017 North Carolina State Amateur and 2015 North Carolina State Open, Tereshko got off to a fast start when he birdied his first two holes.
“I was able to take advantage of some of the short holes by putting it in the fairway and making plenty of birdies,” said Tereshko, who will honeymoon in the Bahamas with his new wife Kelsey in a couple weeks. “I like the fact that this course is old school and tree-lined. It’s playing really firm and really fast. The superintendent did a really great job, and I’m looking forward to the next three days.”
Coody, an incoming freshman at Texas, won the AJGA’s Thunderbird Invitational in early June, the Texas Legends Junior Tour’s Byron Nelson Junior Championship a week later and finished tied for eighth two weeks ago at the 109th Texas Amateur. The grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody poured in a 30-foot eagle on his second hole – the 527-yard, par-5 11th – and added two more birdies to shoot 32 on his opening nine holes. Coody then birdied three more times to get to 7-under, but stumbled coming in with two bogeys before signing for his 66.
“I feel good, but when you’re that hot, it’s disappointing to give two shots back like that,” said Coody, whose twin brother Parker shot 1-under 71 as is tied for 30th place. “But 6-under is a good score, and we still have three more days to go.”
Brandon Smith, a Texas A&M junior from Frisco, Texas, is tied for fourth place with Tom Vining, a South Dakota senior from Sioux Falls, S.D. Smith and Vining each shot 5-under 67s. Smith caught fire on his second nine holes and drained six birdies in an eight-hole stretch. Vining had seven birdies on the day.
Among the players who have yet to finish their first round, Kansas junior Andy Spencer from Prairie Village, Kan., is 3-under through 12 holes. He’s one of seven players currently tied for eighth place. That group also includes Middle Tennessee State sophomore Tyler Johnson from Knoxville, Tenn., (3-under through nine holes) and Kent State freshman Christopher Vandette from Beaconsfield, Quebec (3-under through eight holes).
The Trans-Miss Amateur has a long list of distinguished champions in its storied history. There are none more decorated and admired than Jack Nicklaus, the game’s all-time major championship winner with 18 Grand Slam titles. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Golden Bear’s first Trans-Miss Amateur title in 1958. He won it again the following year, too.
Prior to the start of the 115th Trans-Miss Amateur, Nicklaus recorded a special message to the competitors, who viewed the exclusive video on the eve of the first round. To watch the video, click here.
For updated second round pairings, click here. For more information on the 115th Trans-Miss Amateur, click here.