Amaya leads Costa Mesa City tournament

Austin Amaya and Kyle de Silva are best friends. They’re both 20. They play golf. They even like to eat the same meal for breakfast.

The two almost finished with identical scores during the first day of the two-day Costa Mesa City Championship at Costa Mesa Country Club on Saturday. Amaya fired a five-under-par 65 on the Mesa Linda course, while de Silva was one stroke back in the championship flight.

Amaya and de Silva teed off early in the field of 133 golfers in the 43rd edition of the tournament, which also goes by the Will Jordan Classic. Amaya began at 6:50, 40 minutes after de Silva, and when they came into the clubhouse they went to grab breakfast. You guessed it they each had a breakfast burrito just before 11.

By the time Amaya and de Silva left Costa Mesa Country Club around noon, they didn’t think their scores would hold up as the top two in the tournament, but Amaya leads everyone and de Silva is in second by a stroke.

“I expected lower scores,” said Amaya, a 2012 graduate from El Dorado High in Placentia. “I thought I would be in the top five. This is my second time in the tournament and I’m more familiar with both courses.”

The difference from a year ago for Amaya is that he’s in contention going into the final round. Play resumes Sunday at 6 a.m. on the par-72 Los Lagos course, which is longer than Mesa Linda. The top golfers start between 1:20 p.m. and 2:10.

While Amaya and de Silva hold the top two spots, Ryan Indovina, a former Orange Coast College standout, is right behind at 67. Jacob Schulze, a junior at UC Irvine last season, and Dennis Waites are tied for fourth at 68. Roman Aragon, Costa Mesa resident Amit Chopra, Reilly McMahon, Jordan Meas and Nico Mendoza share the fifth spot at 69. Former Newport Harbor standout Zach Eddy produced a 70, along with 11 others.

Amaya is atop the leaderboard because of his seven birdies, four on the front nine. The first three birdies came on the first three holes, but he was unable to keep the birdie streak alive, bogeying the par-four No. 4 hole. The bogey was the first of two for Amaya, the other coming at the start of the back nine.

Bogey-free is how de Silva, an incoming junior at Cal State Fullerton, played in the first round. He was consistent and collected four birdies, Nos. 2, 5, 7 and 13.

“I left some birdies out there,” said de Silva, referring to birdie chances on Nos. 2, 3, 9, 11, 14, 15 and 16. “The greens were really, really good and there was no wind in the morning.”

Amaya and de Silva hope they can perform well on Sunday. Last year, Amaya finished tied for 16th with a two-day total of one-over-par 143 and de Silva was one stroke back.

Going into the competition, the field was wide open. Last year’s champion, Marc Reyes, a former OCC player, did not return to defend his title because of an injury, said Sean Collins, the Costa Mesa City Championship director and Reyes’ former junior college coach. Collins added that the next four finishers, Ricky Owaki, Travis Russell, who played at Newport Harbor and UC Irvine, Jason Wall and Jake Allanach, also missed the tournament because they moved, were hurt, or turned pro.

Amaya said he’s thinking of becoming a professional soon. Winning the Costa Mesa City Championship can only give him the confidence to do so.

“I want to make sure that I’m playing really well before I make that next step,” Amaya said.