Nick Taylor -- A Serious Contender At Sahalee

Going into Friday's final at the Sahalee Club in Sammamish, Washington, Taylor is two shots off the lead, tied for third at (69-70-70—209) 7-under par in a stellar field of 66 highly ranked international amateurs.

The 21-year-old from Abbotsford, who finished as the low amateur in the U.S. Open two weeks ago, Taylor is an NCAA Division I First-Team All-American this season attending the University of Washington where he compiled a record of four college victories.

Taylor's credentials will be put to the test Friday when he tees off against UNLV NCAA Division I All-American Eddie Olson of Aptos, CA who has 54-hole lead after shooting a pair of 4-under par 68's in Thursday's 36-hole marathon day at Sahalee Country Club that consisted of the second and third rounds. Overall,

At 9-under par 207, Olson has a history of success at the Sahalee Players Championship having finished runner-up in 2007. Olson used six birdies and two bogeys in each round and was one of only two players in the field to break 70 each round on the day.

Australian National Team member, Daniel Nisbet of Caboolture, Australia, has sole possession of second place sitting one stroke back at 8-under par 208 after firing a round of 5-under par 67 in the morning second round and a 4-under par 68 in the afternoon third round. This is Nisbet’s first United States amateur event of the summer after traveling over from the British Amateur. So far this year Nisbet has won three major amateur events in Australia including the prestigious Keperra Bowl.

Defending champion Trent Whitekiller of Sallisaw, OK remains in the mix sitting in a tie for sixth place sitting at 1-under par 216. Whitekiller is looking to become the first two-time champion in the 16 years of the championship.

This Sahalee Players Championship has a number of notable past champions that include Daniel Summerhays, Kyle Stanley, Ryan Moore, Arron Oberholser, Jason Gore, and Casey Martin. Sahalee Country Club has played host to the 1998 PGA Championship, 2002 World Golf Championship – NEC Invitational, and will once again host a major professional event with the U.S. Senior Open coming to the club in 2010.

The Pacific Northwest Golf Association teamed up with Sahalee Country Club 10 years ago to create the “Western Swing” with the PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship. The Sahalee Players Championship is the first leg of the swing, with the PNGA Men’s Amateur being played the week after. The two events were paired together to give amateur golfers in the west an opportunity to play two major national amateur championships without having to travel to the east coast. Live scoring throughout the week can be found at the Sahalee Players Championship website: www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com.


Sahalee Country Club
 Par 72 6,977 yards

1- Eddie Olson, Aptos, CA --71-68-68--207
 2- Daniel Nisbet, Caboolture, Australia --73-67-68--208
 3- Nick Taylor, Abbotsford, BC --69-70-70--209
 T4- Lindsay Renolds, Christina Lake, BC --71-72-70--213
 T4- Ryan Hallisey, Granite Bay, CA --69-70-74--213
 T6- Derek Berg, Kenmore, WA --69-70-76--215
 T6- Riley Wheeldon, Comox, BC --71-73-71--215
 T6- Trent Whitekiller, Sallisaw, OK --72-70-73--215
 T9- Dan Woltman, Beaver Dam, WI --68-77-71--216
 T9- Jacob Koppenberg, Everett, WA --67-75-74--216
 T9- Scott Langley, Manchester, MO --72-69-75--216
 12- Dodge Kemmer, Stanford, CA --72-74-71--217
 T13- Chan Kim, Chandler, AZ --76-67-75--218
 T13- James Sacheck, The Woodlands, TX --69-73-76--218
 15- Joel Dahmen, Clarkston, WA --73-76-70--219
 T16- Erik Hanson, Kirkland, WA --73-75-72--220
 T16- Tom Hoge, Fargo, ND --70-74-76--220
 T18- Eugene Wong, North Vancouver, BC --73-73-75--221
 T18- Jarin Todd, Woodinville, WA --75-71-75--221
 T18- Mitchell Gregson, Waterloo, IL --73-74-74--221
 T18- Richard Lee, Covington, WA --74-74-73--221
 T18- Robbie Ziegler, Canby, OR --75-73-73--221
 23- Brady Johnson, Mill Bay, BC --73-76-73--222
 T24- Cheng-Tsung Pan, Yuanli, Taiwan --79-73-71--223
 T24- Conrad Shindler, Westlake, TX --74-72-77--223
 T24- Donald Constable, Wayzata, MN --71-74-78--223
 T24- Josh Anderson, Murrieta, CA --72-74-77--223
 T28- Dustin Garza, Wichita, KS --80-70-74--224
 T28- Stephen Hale, Bakersfield, CA --73-75-76--224
 T30- Adam Long, Lake St. Louis, MO --72-76-77--225
 T30- Cameron Peck, Olympia, WA --71-79-75--225
 T30- Carlos Sainz , Elgin, IL --75-72-78--225
 T30- Chris D Ward, McKinney, TX --75-74-76--225
 T30- David Lipsky, La Canada, CA --79-75-71--225
 T30- Sam Cyr, Makawao, HI --73-76-76--225
 T30- Skip Berkmeyer, St. Louis, MO --75-77-73--225
 T30- Spencer Cole, Greer, SC --73-72-80--225
 T38- Darren Wallace, Langley, BC --75-71-80--226
 T38- Eric Mina, Fremont, CA --73-80-73--226
 T38- Martin Trainer, Palo Alto, CA --80-71-75--226
 T38- Taylor Travis, Fremont, CA --74-74-78--226
 T42- Connor Driscoll, Encinitas, CA --75-72-80--227
 T42- Diego Velasquez, Bogota, Colombia --75-74-78--227
 T42- Kevin Penner, Sammamish, WA --73-76-78--227
 T45- Chris Killmer, Bellingham, WA --74-76-78--228
 T45- Matthew Giles, Sydney, Australia --79-73-76--228
 T45- Nick Delio, Valencia, CA --72-76-80--228
 T45- Robert Streb, Edmond, OK --71-76-81--228
 49- Nick Geyer, Albuquerque, NM --78-78-73--229
 50- Robbie Fillmore, Salt Lake City, UT --74-78-78--230
 T51- Andrew Putnam, University Place, WA --76-77-78--231
 T51- Geoff Gonzalez, Diablo, CA --74-78-79--231
 T53- Brady Exber, Las Vegas, NV --76-79-77--232
 T53- Dan Whitaker, Cle Elum, WA --78-75-79--232
 T53- Derek Ernst, Clovis, CA --74-81-77--232
 T53- Rob Chandler, Sammamish, WA --78-77-77--232
 T57- Paul Peterson, Corvallis, OR --78-80-75--233
 T57- Steven Kearney, Carlsbad, CA --73-81-79--233
 59- Dave Bunker, Woodbridge, Ontario --81-73-80--234
 60- Zahkai Brown, Arvada, CO --79-76-80--235
 61- Brett Kanda, La Crescenta, CA --77-76-83--236
 62- Austin Hurt, Bainbridge Island, WA --77-82-78--237
 63- Trent Sanders, Scottsdale, AZ --82-81-76--239
 64- Alex Shi Yup Kim, Fullerton, CA --80-77-87--244
 65- Ryan McCarthy, Burnie, Tasmania --DQ-DQ--DQ
 66- Michael Knight, Calgary, AB -- 81-WD--WD