Azevedo wins WJGA District 4 golf championship at Moses Lake Golf Club

MOSES LAKE — Richland’s Gabe Cach had five birdies on the final day, but still didn’t have enough in the tank to chase down first-day leader Patrick Azevedo for the Washington Junior Golf Association District 4 championship on Tuesday at the Moses Lake Golf Club.

Azevedo, a 2A state medalist and top five finisher from Othello, carded rounds of 71-70 to win the district tournament with a 3-under-par 141 to qualify for the WJGA state tournament at Fairwood Country Club in Renton on July 31-Aug. 2.

Where Cach had five birdies to go with four bogeys, Azevedo was steady as Seattle rain. The Huskies junior had just two bogeys in two days and finished the back nine on the final round on Tuesday with a 2-under-par 34 to close it out.

“The greens were rolling nice today and my putter felt great. I like the course layout, where you have to polarize shots. Some holes you can’t hit driver and I just like how that works out,” said Azevedo, who birdied the par-5 10th hole both days. “There’s also a couple of holes where I can drive the hole.

“Because of the sagebrush and the weeds, it’s difficult to score if you’re not in the fairways. So I really had to use my course management.”

The top seven, including ties, qualified for the state tournament, including Jacob Rawley of Ephrata, who finished sixth with a two-day total of 154. Kennewick’s Riley White was a distant third. The Southridge standout had rounds of 76-74, but the tournament belong to Azevedo, who led start-to-finish.

“The big key was pulling driver on some holes and not others, and hitting wedge shots to tap-in birdie distance was pretty nice,” Azevedo said. “I probably had six or seven putts that could have gone in on any other day, but they weren’t falling.

“I would say the key was saves. I had a lot of up-and-downs that really helped. I probably had six or seven, maybe eight up-and-downs today where I chipped it close. It was really nice to have that in my bag where I’m confident enough to know that I’m going to get par.”

Azevedo will play in a one-day tournament at Palouse Ridge Golf Course on Thursday as a final tuneup for the Washington Junior Golf Association state championships July 31-Aug. 2.

Ephrata’s Jayce Moore failed to make the cut with a two-day total of 166.

State qualifiers

Patrick Azevedo, 71-70-141. 2. Gabe Cach, 74-71-145. 3. Riley White, 76-74-150. 4 (tie) Maxwell Turnquist 77-75-152, Jackson Creer, 78-74-152. 6. Jacob Rawley, 77-77-154. 7. Caleb Cochran, 79-76-155

Local players

12. (tie) Jayce Moore, 84-82-166