An Exciting Finish

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

After four days of exciting golf, the 20th annual Mesquite Amateur Championship tournament ended with an unexpected and suspenseful finish on Friday afternoon, June 3 at the Casablanca Golf Club in Mesquite.

It all came down to a three-way tie at the end of regulation play that morning from a field of finalists involving no less than 41 players.

It was the first three-way tie finish in the two decades of Mesquite Amateur history. The top three golfers tying for lowest scores in the finals round were Nav Purewal of Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada; Robert Stoner of Sandy, Utah; and Joel Ramsdell from Tremonton, Utah.

The three-way impasse led to a whole series of playoff showdowns that afternoon. By the end, the competitors had shot it out in six playoff holes before Purewal emerged as the 2023 champion. Stoner ended in second place.

“This year’s Mesquite Amateur brought a lot of firsts to a storied championship,” said Casablanca Resort Assistant General Manager Christian Adderson. “First three-way tie, first six-hole playoff, first international champion, and definitely the most exciting finish ever!”

Beginning on Tuesday morning, the tournament brought together 340 golfers from 41 different states and Canada to Mesquite, Nevada. The players were all placed into 10 flights of competition, based on their age and handicap. Tournament play spanned over three different golf courses including The Casablanca; The Palms in Littlefield, AZ; and the Coral Canyon golf course in St. George, Utah.

The golfers spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday participating in three straight rounds of tournament play. At the end of those three days, the top four from each of the ten flights were advanced to the finals round on Friday at the Casablanca course.

Once qualified for the finals, the golfers set a clean slate, with no handicaps, for the final tournament on Friday. This one round would determine the final tournament winner.

On a parallel track, the scores for all four daily rounds of the tournament, including handicaps, were put together to determine a Low Gross Winner at the tournament. This year’s Low Gross Winner was Mike Mullan from Carlotta, California.

“In this amateur tournament we really wanted to award every type of golfer,” said Adderson. “So we have the overall championship round winner, of course. But the Low Gross Winner award kind of levels the playing field and opens things up for all the competitors.”

Adderson added that the event offered a good deal more than just the golf last week. Each evening Mesquite Gaming put on nightly parties for the golfers and their guests with lavish food and entertainment.

On Thursday, the evening event included prizes for the top 41 finalists including gift cards from tournament sponsors Calloway Golf, Adidas and TaylorMade Golf in amounts up to $650.
“It has been a great time celebrating 20 years of the Mesquite Amateur,” Adderson said.