Samiere seizes nostalgic State Am win at Olympic Club

PJ Samiere spent most of his youth in Hawaii and soon will begin his senior year at San Diego State, so you’d expect his golf memories to flow with sunshine and shorts.

Past winners of the state amateur include World Golf Hall of Famers Ken Venturi, Gene Littler, Johnny Miller and Mark O’Meara.

Samiere often went home cold and wet, because that’s what kids do when they learn to play golf in San Francisco.

Paul Samiere became emotional as he reflected on his son’s early exposure to the game, just across Lake Merced from the Olympic Club.

Paul wished he had played golf more often as a kid, so he didn’t want PJ to have similar regrets.

Saturday’s 36-hole championship match, on a cool if pleasant day, still didn’t start as Samiere hoped it would.

Norton, who recently graduated from Pleasant Valley High in Chico and will play at Georgia Tech in the fall, quickly moved ahead 4-up, in part because Samiere made a string of bogeys.

Norton’s lead reached 5-up through 11 holes, but Samiere reminded himself to stay patient.

Samiere left his 118-yard approach shot only 7 feet from the hole, Norton missed his birdie putt and Samiere converted his to win.

[...] he felt comfortable with the Lake Course’s notorious sidehill lies, mostly because his college team’s home course is San Diego Country Club.