Palm Desert’s Charlie Reiter advances in California State Amateur golf event

Charlie Reiter of Palm Desert advanced in the 11th California State Amateur golf championship Thursday.

A stumbling start didn’t stop Palm Desert’s Charlie Reiter from advancing in the 111th California State Amateur golf tournament in Newport Beach on Thursday.

After losing the first two holes of his round-of-16 match at Big Canyon Country Club against Oscar Zimmerman of Cincinnati, Reiter rallied to win three of the last seven holes on the front nine, then eased to a 3 and 1 win.

Reiter, who recently qualified to play in his first U.S. Open championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., was one of the top 32 players in the two-day stroke-play qualifier for the championship. That put him in Wednesday’s round-of-32 match against Brett Viboch of San Luis Obispo. Reiter never lost a hole in that match on the way to a 4 and 3 victory.

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In Thursday’s match, Reiter won the ninth hole to tie Zimmerman after the front nine. Reiter then won the 10th and 13th holes and closed out the match by winning the 17th hole.

Reiter, who played at Palm Desert High School and recently left the University of San Diego with plans to turn pro this fall, will face Tyler Kowack of San Diego in a quarterfinal match at 7:40 a.m., Friday.  Semifinal matches will be played in the afternoon, with the finals set for Saturday.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Desert’s Charlie Reiter advances in California State Amateur golf event