Cole Madey won his first OGA title
(OGA Photo)
WEST LINN, OR (June 25, 2017) - As soon as the sun came up on the morning of championship Sunday at the 108th Oregon Amateur and 34th Oregon Senior Women’s Championships, it was obvious that the day was going to be the ultimate test of golf endurance on the on the mountainous holes of Oregon Golf Club. Temperatures rose to nearly 100 degrees and fast greens paired with the pressure and gamesmanship of match play set the stage for the one-on-one finales in the Men’s, Women’s, and Senior Women’s matches.
The women’s championship match pitted two-time defending champion and current University of Arizona player, Gigi Stoll (Beaverton, Ore.), against mid-am Amanda Jacobs (Portland, Ore.), a former University of Idaho player who has had her own share of recent success in the Pacific Northwest, claiming her second straight Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) Women’s Mid-Amateur title and being named the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year in 2016. This was Stoll’s fifth straight time competing in the championship match, claiming the title in 2014 and 2015. This marked Jacobs’ first time competing in the finale.
Stoll and Jacobs halved the first three holes, before Stoll made her first move, winning the par-3 fourth hole with a par to go 1-up. Jacobs struggled, bogeying holes six through eight in which Stoll capitalized with pars to take a 4-up lead through nine holes.
Stoll claimed the 11th hole after Jacobs found trouble in the bunker to move to 5-up, but Jacobs took advantage of Stoll’s own bunker woes on the 12th hole to bring it back to a four hole lead. After trading a couple holes, Stoll won 16 and 17 and halved 18 to take a 6-up lead into the lunch break.
Jacobs, hoping to tighten the gap, did not start the second 18 well, bogeying the 19th hole to fall to 7-down. Stoll continued her consistent play, winning holes 22, 23, and 24 with par, birdie, birdie, respectively, to go 10-up. Jacobs won the 25th, but the deficit was too great to overcome. With a half on the 28th hole, Stoll claimed her third Oregon Amateur Championship in four years.
“I’ve always been a fan of match play,” said Stoll after the win. “I feel like this golf course favored a longer hitter from the way the tees were for the women. A lot of the par 5s I could get on in two so it was pretty favorable for me today.”
On the Men’s side, medalist and UCLA player Cole Madey (West Linn, Ore.), a member at The Oregon Golf Club, faced off against Boise State player and 2017 Mountain West Individual Champion Brian Humphreys (Washougal, Wash.). Madey and Humphreys both compiled dominant runs through their respective sides of the bracket, with both players finishing off their opponents before the 18th hole in all of their matches. Humphreys began the day looking to redeem himself after falling to Connor Barr in last year’s championship match, while Madey was looking to claim his first Oregon Amateur title on the course he grew up playing.
The match started off very evenly between the two Division-1 players. Madey won the par-4 second hole with a par and Humphreys won the par-3 fourth hole with a birdie as the match remained tied until Madey sunk back-to-back birdies on holes eight and nine to take a 2-up lead into the back-nine.
The floodgates started to open on the second nine, as Madey, who combined for a 12-under par total in the two-day stroke play qualifying at the start of the week, rattled off birdies on holes 13, 14, 15, and 18 to take a commanding 7-up lead into the break. Humphreys was unable to keep up with Madey’s sizzling 4-under 31 on the backside.
After the break, the pair started the second-18 with two halved holes. Madey won the par-4 21st hole with a birdie to move to 8-up overall, but Humphreys brought Madey’s lead back to seven with a birdie on the par-5 23rd hole. Madey tallied a birdie on the par-4 25th hole to put his lead back at eight with 11 holes to play.
On the 28th hole, still down eight, Humphreys hit a desperation drive at the green of the 355-yard dogleg right that settled ten feet from the pin, and putted in for eagle. The eagle paired with winning the 30th and 31st holes got Humphreys back to 5-down, but it was too little, too late. The pair halved the 32nd hole, solidifying Madey’s 5&4 victory and first Oregon Amateur Championship.
Madey was quick to note the meaning of this win on his home course. “I live about 200 yards from the clubhouse so I feel really comfortable here,” said Madey, “Overall it was a phenomenal week. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. This is my favorite place to be in the world.”
Lara Tenant (Portland, Ore.) and Patti O’Mara (West Linn, Ore.) teed it up in the Senior Women’s 18-hole championship match, each looking for their first titles. Tenant and O’Mara, both members at Waverly Country Club, faced a gauntlet of former OGA Champions in order to reach the championship match.
O’Mara jumped out to an early lead, winning the par-5 first hole with a bogey, but Tenant responded by winning the sixth and seventh holes to take a 1-up lead of her own. O’Mara came back with a nice birdie on the par-3 eighth hole and the pair halved the ninth hole to enter the back nine with Tenant 1-up. The closest match of the day, Tenant won the par-4 10th hole to move to 2-up. The pair halved holes 11 through 13 before Tenant moved to 3-up with a par on the 14th. O’Mara won the 15th with a par, but Tenant had the last word, winning the 16th with a par to win the match 3&2.
The win was Tenant’s first Oregon Senior Amateur title, and she described the mentality needed to win. “I went out and doubled the first hole, not always the best way start,” said Tenant, “but I haven’t played the first hole that well this week, so I knew that I had it all down if I kept my head together and kept going.”
The champions will have a chance to defend their titles at the 109th Oregon Amateur Championship, which will be held next year at Bend Golf & Country Club.
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