Camas' Snoey captures 3A golf state title

Daniel Snoey from Camas used an eagle to spark himself to the 3A state tournament. (Steven Lane/Columbian files)

With the 2008 U.S. Junior Champion in the field, Daniel Snoey knew he'd have to play his best golf to become a state champion.

And that's exactly what the Camas junior did.

Buoyed by an eagle from 60 yards on the 10th hole at Meadow Springs Country Club in Richland, Snoey shot a 3-under-par 69 on Thursday and captured the individual championship at the Class 3A boys golf state tournament.

"This is probably one of the bigger events I've won," said Snoey, who will play in the American Junior Golf Association John Deere Junior Open June 1-4 in Iowa.

Combined with a ninth-place finish by teammate Blake Jones, Snoey's title gave Camas the second-place team trophy.

Hockinson's run of Class 2A team championships came to an end despite a strong showing from Gerrit Chambers. Both Chambers and his school finished second at the tournament, which concluded Thursday at Apple Tree Golf Course in Yakima.

For the second year in a row, Snoey shared the lead at the end of the first day of the two-day state tournament. In 2008, Snoey finished fourth.

"After last year, I just wanted to go out and be calm and focus on my game," Snoey said.

Jake Erickson from Enumclaw, who shared the lead after Wednesday, shot 6-over 78 on Thursday to fade to 19th place.

But Cameron Peck, a senior at Timberline of Olympia who was the national junior player of the year in 2008, started the day only one shot back of Snoey. Then Peck made birdies on three of the first four holes Thursday to surge to the lead.

"That kind of woke me up," Snoey said. "I knew I needed to start playing golf and going right at the pin."

Snoey made birdies on the fifth and ninth holes, but it was at No. 10 that he regained his status as the golfer to beat.

"That was kind of the turning point of the round," Snoey said.

He hit a strong shot off the tee on the downhill par-5, and followed with a 3-wood to within 60 yards from the pin. His third shot found the hole for the eagle-3.

Snoey capped his round with a birdie on the par-4 18th. He won by three strokes over Mike Rutledge from Mount Si High School, and was four strokes better than Peck and Scott Kim of Hanford.

"What a great day," Camas coach Roger Hamreus said. "He went toe to toe with Cameron and played some great golf."

But it was Jones, who shot 76-73 for a 5-over 149, who allowed the Papermakers to collect the second-place team trophy. Jones tied with five others for ninth place, including Andrew Spicer from Union who shot 75 on Thursday.

Andrew Johnson of Prairie shot a 1-over 73 and finished tied for 19th at 152.

Alistair Docherty shot 77 on Thursday and finished at 157 to share 32nd among 43 golfers who made the cut to play Thursday's second round. Chris Morgan shot 80 for the Titans and finished with a score of 161 for 35th place.

Columbia River's Jordan Buchanan finished tied for 35th at 161. Prairie's Tanner Maahs shot 85 and finished at 165 for 41st place.

At the Class 2A boys state tournament in Yakima, Matt Rawitzer of Squalicum birdied the final two holes to edge Chambers by a single stroke, 136-137.

Rawitzer took the lead by with a birdie on the par-3 17th, an island green. On the 18th, Chambers had a 30-foot downhill eagle putt roll just past the edge of the cup.

"I hit the ball pretty good. I couldn't really get the putts to fall today," Chambers said.

Connor O'Neil from Washougal tied for eighth with a 147. Hockinson's Spencer Turner tied for 16th at 152, and combined with Chambers gave the Hawks 69.5 team points, seven points behind first-place Lynden.

For Woodland, John Michael Pilot finished at 156, tied for 25th. The other two Beavers, Tegan Winters and Jordan Ditzler, finished with 159.

Ridgefield's Caleb Dillingham finished with a 163.

At the Class 4A boys tournament in Kennewick, Skyview's Andy Long (154) finished tied for 17th to lead the four local finalists. The Storm's Nick Long was one stroke back and shared 24th place. Josh Vizciano of Evergreen and Andrew White of Skyview (both 157) and tied for 32nd.

Tanner Roggenkamp of La Center (144) tied for seventh at the Class 1A boys tournament.

Zachary Buerkle from King's Way Christian (169) was 35th at the boys Class B state tournament.

In girls golf state tournaments, Kayla Jech from Union (174) finished 26th at the Class 3A tournament in Richland. Camas' Betsy Howd (194) placed 39th.

In the Class 2A girls tournament, Nicole Sallee of Woodland (187) shared 24th place, and Hockinson's Leslie Hanks (190) placed 27th.