Tyler Watts didn’t just win the Northeast Amateur on Saturday at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, Rhode Island.
The incoming Tennessee freshman might’ve locked up an automatic Walker Cup berth in the process.
Watts closed in 4-under 65 to win the prestigious amateur tournament by five shots over Stanford’s Jay Leng. Watts’ dominant 16-under performance projects to move him to fourth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, though he could be third by Wednesday’s update if No. 1 Jackson Koivun, who will make his pro debut at next week’s John Deere Classic, is removed from the ranking then.
The top three Americans in the rankings on July 8 will earn automatic spots on the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team that will compete Sept. 5-6 at Lahinch in Ireland.
Watts enjoyed a strong summer last year to get on the Walker Cup radar for Cypress Point, though he ultimately didn’t make that team. He won the Sunnehanna by four shots, tied for sixth at the Northeast and was runner-up at the North and South Amateur. This year, Watts hasn’t played a ton of ranked event, though he was second at Sage Valley and T-18 in his Sunnehanna defense.
After an opening 66 on Wednesday, Watts broke the tournament scoring record with a second-round 60 on Thursday.
“The second round was one of the best rounds of my life, and I did not want that to be the talk of the tournament,” Watts told local reporters. “I wanted to be able to say I walked away as a champion and I’m super grateful that I was able to do that.”
Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout will be No. 1 once Koivun drops out, while Stout’s college teammate Ethan Fang and high-schooler Miles Russell are projected Nos. 4 and 5 come Wednesday. Stout, the Northeast’s defending champ, and Fang didn’t play the Northeast after missing the U.S. Open cut, while Russell was T-5 at the Northeast after his T-39 at Shinnecock.
Pepperdine’s Willy Walsh and North Carolina’s Carson Bertagnole each tied for third at Wannamoisett, and both are currently Walker Cup bubble guys.