Coloradan Connor Jones places fourth in Pacific Coast Amateur, his third top-6 finish of 2024 Elite Amateur Series season
By Gary Baines – 7/26/2024
Connor Jones has proven this summer that he definitely fits in among the best of the best in amateur golf.
The Westminster resident, who swept the CGA major championships in 2022 and advanced to the round of 32 at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, showed that again on Friday by finishing fourth individually in the Pacific Coast Amateur, part of the Elite Amateur Series.
It marks Jones’ third top-6 finish in an Elite Amateur Series event this year as he placed fifth in the Sunnehanna Amateur and fourth in last week’s Southern Amateur.
The former Colorado State University golfer came into the Pac Coast tournament in third place in the 2024 Elite Amateur Series standings. (July 29 Update: In the week after the Pac Coast, Jones moved up to No. 1.)
At the Pac Coast, held at 2015 U.S. Open site Chambers Bay near Tacoma, Wash., Jones posted rounds of 72-68-69-66 for a 9-under-par total. That left him three strokes behind champion Chaz Aurilia of Scottsdale, Arizona., who won in a playoff over Sam Sommerhauser of Lincoln, Calif.
The culmination of the national/international summer amateur season will be the U.S. Amateur, which is set for Aug. 12-18 at Hazeltine in Chaska, Ariz. Next week, Jones is scheduled to compete in the prestigious Western Amateur in Dayton, Ohio.
Jones finished runner-up — in a playoff — at the 2022 Trans-Miss at Denver Country Club, another Elite Amateur Series event.
Scores for all the players with strong Colorado ties at the Pacific Coast Amateur:
4. Connor Jones, Westminster 72-68-69-66–275
41. Matthew Wilkinson, Centennial 73-72-69-74–288
65. Hunter Swanson, Denver 75-74-70-77—296
Also
51. Incoming CU golfer Parker Paxton 72-78-67-73–290
77. CO School of Mines golfer Lukas Taggart 71-78-77-80–306
For all the scores, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com