By Derryl Trujillo —
MURRIETA – With a tough finish to his third round, Michael Block gave the field a chance in last Thursday’s final round of the 122nd California State Open. It was an opportunity that San Diego State graduate Zihao Jin took full advantage of in rallying from six down to win in his third professional start.
Block started his round with a birdie at number one, sticking an approach to ten feet and converting to take a four-shot lead over playing partner Ryan Ellerbrock. After that, not a lot went right for the 2001 winner of this event. He did have a two-putt birdie at the ninth hole, and an eagle at the eleventh, which pushed his lead to two from Ellerbrock, who time after time made key par saves to keep himself in the thick of things.
After back-to-back bogeys at the drivable par 4 thirteenth hole and par 5 fourteenth hole, Block lost the lead and a bogey at sixteen put him two back. Ellerbrock reached -14 after two putting from 80+ feet at the eleventh for a birdie and kept himself in contention until a bogey at the sixteenth. The duo would finish two back. Grant Booth chipped in for eagle at the thirteenth but missed his share of birdie opportunities and was three back.
Jin shared the first-round lead with Tyler Gillicksen after an opening round 65 and fell six back through fifty-four holes after rounds of 73 and 69. He got off to a hot start with birdies at hole 1, 5 and the short par 3 sixth and reached -11 after nine holes, which was three behind Block. He took the lead after a birdie at the par 4 fifteenth, which was the 7th and final birdie on that hole for the day…then made three straight pars to preserve the win.
The recent graduate of San Diego State remarked, “All I wanted to do was play my game and see what happened. My caddie Patrick was checking the live scoring and I told him to tell me down the stretch if I needed two birdies or the like. When I did not hear that I figured I was close to the lead or in it. It is a big confidence boost going into Korn Ferry Monday Qualifiers and Q-School this fall where I missed advancing to finals by one at this site last year. To have my name on this trophy is adding my name to a page of California golf history and it is an honor to do so.”
He takes home $10,000 for the win.
Great Oak junior, Ryan Abuan, earned $1,000 for winning the low amateur honors as a result of a rule change which went into effect on January 1. He was one off the lead after an opening 66 and stayed in contention for the title with rounds of 73 and 71. On Thursday, June 30, he made three birdies in his final four holes to turn in -4 (32) and made birdie at 17 to win low amateur honors by one over Grayson Leach from Rolling Hills Estates. That birdie offset a late triple bogey at the par 3 sixteenth which cost him a top five.
The University of San Diego commit said, “It was a great experience this week and I am really happy with how I played and the way I finished with that birdie at 17 after a triple bogey at 16. Tournaments like this are big confidence boosters and excite me for the rest of the summer, starting with a US Amateur qualifier on Tuesday.”
Derryl Trujillo has been a sportswriter in the area since 2018 and is a 2019 winner of the IEBCA Supporter of the Year award. He can be reached by email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
