Williams loses to former coach at U.S. Amateur Public Links

It took a former coach – and a fellow Williams – to knock Chris Williams out of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf Course at Midway, Utah, on Wednesday.

Chris Williams (University of Washington/Moscow High) fell in the match play round of 64, losing to former coach Alex Williams.

Chris led 2 up through 11 holes, but Alex birdied three holes down the stretch, ending the match with a birdie on No. 17. A bogey on No. 15 especially hurt Chris.

Chris’ Husky teammate Cheng-Tsung Pan advanced to the round of 32 with a 3 and 2 victory over Shane Smith of Illinois-Wesleyan. Pan took the lead for good on the seventh hole when Smith bogeyed.

• Third-seeded Dylan Maine (Freeman High), who just completed his sophomore season at Community Colleges of Spokane, defeated Jeffrey Neeley of Mukilteo, Wash., 7 and 6 in the first round of stroke play at the 111th PNGA Men’s Amateur at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla.

Maine began the week by shooting rounds of 73 and 66 in stroke play. His round of 66 on Tuesday gave him a brief share of the course record set by Chris Williams, but Carl Jonson of Bainbridge Island, Wash., shot 63 later in the day.

David Nuhn of Moscow, Idaho, seeded 14th, defeated Brian Mogg of Sammamish, Wash., 1 up.

Two Spokane golfers lost openers. Garrett Howard, seeded 60th, dropped a 5 and 4 match to fifth-seeded Nicholas Chianello of Gresham, Ore. Evan Dyar, seeded 54th, lost 4 and 3 to 11th-seeded David Fink of Kailua, Hawaii, last year’s medalist at the event.

• Gonzaga’s Brendan Connolly, seeded 10th, lost to seventh-seeded Brandon Bingaman in the round of 16 at the 112th CGA Match Play Championship at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, Colo.

The match was even through 17 holes, but Bingaman scored the victory.

Connolly earned his spot in the round of 16 by defeating No. 42 seed David Ramsden-Wood 2 up during the morning.

Football

Idaho senior-to-be Bobby Cowan is one of 25 Division I players selected to the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, given to college football’s top punter.

Cowan ranked second in the nation last season by averaging 46.41 yards per punt. He had two punts longer than 70 yards, including one of 76 yards.

Cowan was Idaho’s special teams player of the year last season and was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference’s second team.