This year, he'll be the one looking to avoid an upset.

Nakasawa followed up a 67 on Monday with an even-par 72 Tuesday to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the qualifying rounds of the state am at the Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa.

The 85th edition of this championship now turns to match play for the next four days. Nakasawa, the No. 4 seed, will play Kenneth Kellaney of Phoenix, a former champion in this event.

"Match play is always fun to do, and last year was fun because I was right in the middle," he said. "I guess you could say the top seeds are favorites, but I just look at it as a new day. It really starts over tomorrow."

Blake Brown of Scottsdale took the medalist honor with 138 two-day total, one shot ahead of Nakasawa, Gavin Kwon and first-day leader Andrew Augustyniak. Defending champion Jin Song was at 148 for the two days but will be the No. 2 seed in match play.

Nakasawa, a 22-year-old senior to-be at Grand Canyon University, was in second place after Monday's bogey-free round. Starting on the back nine, he went out in 3-under 33, then birdied hole No.'s 1 and 2 and finished with seven straight pars. He was one of only six players in the 140-man field to post a round in the 60s and two shots off Augustyniak's lead.

"I went back and forth with bogeys and birdies," he said. "I played the same pretty much today I went for some stuff drove a par-4. I played the par-5s and the par-3s pretty good. There's just one hole here that doesn't set up right for me."  

The top 64 qualifiers reached match play. Players are allowed to use caddies during the match play portion, but Nakasawa said he plans to go it alone at least for today.
 
There is a lot of tricky tee shots and I had only played it (Southern Dunes) once, four years ago, when they hosted the Amateur," Nakasawa said in a press release Monday. "Today was good because it gives you the confidence that you know you can make some birdies, which is always good in match play. My game has come a long way in four years."

Yuma Daily Sun
July 22, 2009