Sunnehanna Notebook Murrysville's Jackson makes nine third-round birdies

Jun. 18—Palmer Jackson hesitated before answering a question about his stellar performance in the third round of the 68th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.

"Speechless, I guess," Jackson initially responded.

The University of Notre Dame golfer from Murrysville allowed his game do the talking on a windy Friday afternoon on the par-70 Sunnehanna Country Club course.

Jackson made birdie putts on the first four holes in the round. After a bogey on 5 briefly disrupted the momentum, he made a birdie on 9, bogeyed 10, and then strung together three straight birdies on 11, 12 and 13.

After one more bogey on 17, Jackson came inches short on a par-saving putt on the final hole to finish the round at 6-under par 64. The Fighting Irish rising junior is in contention with a 4-under 206 entering Saturday's final round.

"It was such a strangely good start," Jackson said. "When that happens, you almost have to regroup and play a new round because if you start thinking you're 4-under, chances are you're going to get complacent and try to make pars.

"Once I turned at 4-under I made a goal on the back nine that I wanted to shoot 3-under on the back nine, which I almost did. I bogeyed on 18."

The 6-under and 64 each were Jackson's best totals in a competitive event. He had four top-25 finishes as a sophomore at Notre Dame in 2021 and recently won the Jay Sigel Amateur Match Play Championship.

The Franklin Regional High School graduate also produced six top-25 finishes as a college freshman during 2020's COVID-19 interrupted season.

The foundation for Friday's low score actually was set moments after a 2-over 72 in Thursday's second round.

"I did everything right last night and this morning to lead to a good round today," Jackson said. "Sometimes it's the little things that can make you play well.

"I felt like I did everything I could've from the minute that last putt dropped (Thursday) to the minute I was on the tee (Friday).

"I went through my post-round routine very well (on Thursday)," Jackson said. "This morning my timing was really good with everything from when I was getting breakfast to when I wanted to get here to when I was done at the range. Everything was really good.

"Then, I hit a good tee shot on 1, stuck it and we were off from there."

The birdies continued throughout the round, with Jackson making nine against three bogeys.

"On 2, I had 170 (yards), maybe, and I think I hit a 6-iron. It landed about 2 inches left of it and ended up 2 inches right of the hole," Jackson said. "When I birdied 2, I knew 3 and 4 were gettable. I just had to be aggressive. I hit a great drive on 3 that ended up on the back collar. Got that up and down for birdie.

"On 4, I made a 20-footer from below the hole," he said. "That's a dream start out here. If you're going to make a move you have to do that."

So, what's next?

"I like where my game is at but when you come off a round where you're putting this well, some people say it's hard to follow up," Jackson said. "Sometimes it is. But I'd rather putt well than putt bad going into (Saturday)."

Low round: Clemson University player Kyle Cottam of Knoxville, Tennessee, shot a 7-under 63 on Friday. He made seven birdie putts in a bogey-free round.

Cottam had a 32 on the front nine and a 31 on the back.

Local finish: United High School graduate Brock Matava finished his tournament with a 7-over 77 on Friday. Matava didn't make the cut to play in the final round.

His scores were 77, 75 and 77 for a 19-over 229 through three rounds.

On Friday, Matava had birdie putts on 1 and 11. His bogeys were on 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 18.

The mostly sunny and windy conditions over three days made the par-4, 460-yard uphill second hole even more challenging than usual.

The gusty winds dried out the green. The firm and fast conditions often led to approach shots rolling back down from the green to the fairway.

To address the matter, the Sunnehanna grounds team used a hose to water the greens throughout Friday's round. Initially, they sprayed No. 2 every hour, but later changed to every 40 minutes, workers said.

"It was very windy out there," Jackson said. "I thought some of the holes that typically played easier played a little bit harder. No. 10 played harder because of the wind. Some of the holes on the front nine, No. 2 was playing really difficult, 6 very difficult.

"You just had to manage and you couldn't leave yourself putts that were downwind."