McALLEN — Albert Ochoa and Luke Antonelli each registered a 1-under-par 71 to capture a tie for the lead Saturday at the 2023 Vantage Bank McAllen Amateur Golf Championship at Champion Lakes Golf Course.
Ochoa is looking for his first McAllen Amateur title while Antonelli has won the title twice, in 2019 and 2021. There was no tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Three other golfers, including five-time and defending champion Miguel Del Angel, are within two strokes of the leaders. Del Angel sits tied for fourth with Rafael Meza at 1-over while Mauricio Gamez is alone in third with a first round par-72.
Golfers in the championship flight, during the morning, played with temperatures in the mid-80s and a breeze, that often times reached a gust of 20-25 miles per hour. They finished their round with temps in the mid-90s, but before it reached 100 degrees and the afternoon flights hit the fairways.
Ochoa is a 1995 graduate of Edinburg High who hit his stride at the college level while playing for TCU. He was Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, a two-time All-American and was ranked second among collegiate golfers nationwide in 1997.
Ochoa joined the PGA in 1999 and he competed in the U.S. Open, alongside a young Tiger Woods. At one point, he and Tiger were using the same golf teacher, Butch Harmon. He regained his amateur status and the McAllen Amateur was the first competitive tournament he has played in more than 20 years, he said.
“I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous,” Ochoa said. “Then I birdied the fourth hole and relaxed and got back into the swing of things.”
Ochoa was pulling away from the rest of the field with a 3-under through 15 holes after starting on No. 10. When he reached No. 7, a par-5 with the tee boxes moved up, he was looking at another birdie opportunity.
“I was running the tables on them today and hitting the ball well. The course is set up difficult and you have to be defensive most of the day,” he said.
He blocked his drive right and in fell into the water. He finished with his only double bogey of the round, shooting a two-over 7. Instead of 4-under, he moved back to 1-under.
“Number seven really dampened the day,” he said. “You just have to refocus but I was really mad for 10-15 minutes. I didn’t think I made that bad of a swing but it was demoralizing after everything was going so well all day, I hadn’t played a tournament for 23 years and to screw it up on one shot like that got to me.”
Del Angel, of Mission, defeated Antonelli during last year’s event on the final hole for a one-stroke victory. It was his fifth title and ninth top-two finish.
Three-time winner Ron Kilby and two-time champion Genaro Davila finished in a four-way tie for seventh, five strokes back, at 4-over-par.
The championship flight will tee off Sunday afternoon, with the leaders scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The championship awards ceremony will be immediately after the tournament, approximately at 6 p.m.