GUNN SHOOTS 24-UNDER TO WIN GOING AWAY AT SOUTHERN DUNES

The All-American Gateway Tour’s Fall season is underway, and Jimmy Gunn started the season with some fireworks, shooting a red-hot 24-under 192 to win by five strokes over Xander Schauffele at Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.

Gunn opened with a 4-under 68 in the first round, and followed that up with an impressive 9-under 63 that included a 7-under 29 on the back nine to take the second round lead at 13-under par. Despite his hot round, he was unable to shake Eric Meierdierks and Schauffele, who were just one and two shots back of Gunn heading into the final round.

That’s where Gunn stepped on the gas and never looked back. After an opening par on the first hole of the final round, Gunn rattled off seven straight birdies on holes 2-8 and made the turn at 20-under par and a comfortable five-stroke lead over Meierdierks and Schauffele.

Gunn kept it going on the back nine, opening with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole, then adding a birdie on 13 and an eagle on the 323-yard, par-4 14th to get to 24-under. Schauffele had four birdies on the back nine but couldn’t keep up with Gunn to finish in second place at 19-under par, while Meierdierks had three birdies but two costly bogeys on the back nine to finish third at 16-under.

Gunn was nearly flawless at Southern Dunes, carding 21 birdies and two eagles, with just one bogey that came in the first round on the par-5 16th hole. He was 21-under par after his only bogey of the tournament, and he shot back-to-back 29s on the back nine of round two and the front nine of round three to go 14-under par during that 18-hole stretch.

Schauffele was impressive with his 8-under 64 but lost ground to Gunn who seemed pretty much unstoppable on the final day. Meierdierks shot 4-under 68 in round three, while PGA TOUR vet Ted Purdy and Jonathan Khan both fired 5-under 67s in the final round to finish T4 at 15-under par.

Rounding out the Top-10 at Southern Dunes were Mac McClung (6th), Nick Hodge (7th), D.J. Reeves (8th), Trevor Murphy (9th) and R.J. Wood (10th).

Earlier in the week the AAGT staged its season-opening Fall Series Sponsorship Event, a one-day, 18-hole tournament that awards the winner with free entry into all six Fall Series AAGT events.

Jake Younan came out on top thanks to his 8-under 64 at Southern Dunes. He was steady all day, carding five birdies and a bogey for a front-nine 32, and he recorded four birdies, one eagle and one bogey on the back to finish at 8-under par to win by two shots.

Brady Schnell started off slow with just a 35 on the front nine, but shot a 31 on the back nine, including birdies on three of the last five holes to finish solo second at 6-under. A total of seven players finished T3 at 4-under, including Gunn and Meierdierks, while four players finished T10 at three-under par.

For complete results from the AAGT Falls Series #1 at Southern Dunes CLICK HERE.

The first Fall Series event of the season is in the books, but there are five more events left on the fall schedule. Next up is the Quintero Classic at Quintero Golf Club, Oct. 26-28, followed by the Bolle Sunglasses Open at Mcdowell Mountain Golf Club.