Big wins!

SoCal PGA professional Rick Sessinghaus has coached Collin Morikawa for 15 years. (pga.com)

SoCal golfers shine as Morikawa
wins PGA Championship, Zhang
​wins U.S. Women’s Amateur

    It was a big weekend for two golfers with roots in Southern California.
    Collin Morikawa, who played golf at La Canada High School in La Cañada Flintridge, became the third-youngest player in history to win the PGA Championship with an impressive two-shot victory today at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
    In only his second major championship appearance, Morikawa shot a final-round 64, the lowest final-round score for a PGA champion. The former leader of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Morikawa began his professional career with 22 consecutive made cuts, the second-longest streak to start a career since Tiger Woods, who had 25.
    Shortly before Morikawa hoisted the Wannamaker Trophy, Irvine resident Rose Zhang won the second-longest final in U.S. Women’s Amateur history with a victory over fellow Southern Californian and reigning champion Gabriela Ruffels, a Trojan on the USC golf team who plays out of Rolling Hills Country Club.
    Zhang, 17, secured the victory at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, when Ruffels’ putt on the 37th hole lipped out.