By his own admission, Lacey's Jon McCaslin had no idea how he was going to try and protect an eight-stroke leading heading into the final round of the 79th Tacoma City Amateur.

So he went for broke – and came out of it OK.

Bombing drives of 330 yards on an Oakbrook Country and Golf Club layout that demands precision over power, McCaslin shot a 4-over-par 75 Sunday to win the title by three strokes over defending champion Jarred Bossio, of Olympia.

The 25-year-old McCaslin finished the three-round championship at 3-under 211. Bossio, who fired the day's best round – a 1-under 70 – was second at 214, followed by Puyallup's Derek Barron (73) in third at 218, and Tacoma's David Talcott (75) and Auburn's Sean Packer (71) in a tie for fourth at 219.

McCaslin became the 50th different champion of the event, dating back to 1931, and third consecutive first-time winner.

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"This course is narrow. You have to decide on the tee if you're going to hit 2-iron or driver, and you really have to trust it," Bossio said. "He can just bomb it and hit it straight."

Going for broke on nearly every drive on the back nine holes, McCaslin danced in and out of trouble, almost without a scratch. Consider:

• On the par-4 10th, his 155-yard approach from under the tree landed pin-high, and he made par.

• On the par-4 12th, a severe dogleg left with lots of trouble right, McCaslin's aggressive line left him within a foot from the out-of-bounds stake.

• McCaslin's drive on the par-5 14th came to rest on a cartpath in the right treeline, but he saved par.

• On the next hole, another long par-4, again McCaslin was under tree branches. This time, his punch shot through an opening settled 12 feet from the hole, and he ended up making par.

"It's natural ability, I guess," he said. "A lot of it has to do with my confidence in my wedges, and irons."

• The round saver came on the straightaway par-3 16th, measuring 185 yards. Trying to work the ball left-to-right, he pushed his tee shot so severely, it hit a tree and took a hard bounce right.

He got to his ball, only to see it was in-bounds by a couple of inches.

"I flat-out got lucky," McCaslin said.

He was able to chip through an opening and get on the green, but then sank an improbable bending 35-foot putt for par, which all but ended Bossio's bid for a big comeback.