Nick Huff won the Oregon Men's Stroke Play
in sudden-death (OGA photo)
CRESWELL, ORE. – Nick Huff (Ridgefield, Wash.), Pat O’Donnell (Happy Valley, Ore.), and Keith Buckman (West Linn, Ore.) won division titles Sunday at the 65th Oregon Men’s Stroke Play Championship, held August 4-6, 2017 at Emerald Valley Golf & Resort in Creswell, Ore.
All three divisions – Open, Senior, and Master-40 – contained a cut after Saturday’s second round. The top half of each division, plus ties, advanced to Sunday’s final round.
Huff, a rising senior at Concordia University – Portland, won in a three-person playoff to decide this year’s champion. The other two players tied for the lead after 54-holes were defending champion and University of Oregon rising sophomore Kevin Geniza (Corvallis, Ore.), and last year’s Oregon Amateur Four-Ball champion Trevor Harding (Portland, Ore.).
All three players finished at 3-under par (213) after Sunday’s round. In the playoff, while Geniza and Harding hit driver left off the par-4 first hole, Huff hit his center-cut with an iron. While he had a 30-foot putt for birdie, the other two players had long par attempts, both finishing with bogeys. Huff two-putted, and his par earned him the win.
Huff shot scores of 73-68-72 – 213 (-3). Geniza and Harding tied for second, while this year’s Oregon Mid-Amateur champion Jack Dukeminier (Beaverton, Ore.) and 2016 Oregon Junior Amateur winner Spencer Tibbits (Vancouver, Wash.) tied for fourth at 2-under par for the event. A three-person tie for sixth place at even-par included Clavin Green (Springfield, Ore.), Billy Pollock (Eugene, Ore.), and Bryce Wortman (Klamath Falls, Ore.).
O’Donnell, the two-time defending Senior Stroke Play champion, won his record eighth title in this event. He began the day tied for first place with Scott Larsen (Cottage Grove, Ore.), the superintendent at Emerald Valley.
Larsen fired a 35 (-1) on the front nine, taking a one shot lead over O’Donnell going into the final nine holes of the event. Both bogeyed the 10th hole, but O’Donnell finished on fire. He birdied two of the final four holes, including the 18th, while Larsen bogeyed two of the final five holes. O’Donnell finished the 54-hole championship at even par, 216 (75-70-71) for the event, while Larsen shot scores of 74-71-74 – 219 (+3).
Two-time champion of this event Randy Mahar (Portland, Ore.) earned third place, finishing at 4-over par (220). Scott Hval (Portland, Ore.), three-time Oregon Senior Men’s Amateur champion, finished in fourth place at 5-over par (221).
In the Master-40 Division, Buckman entered play on Sunday with a commanding five-shot lead. He maintained that lead for the majority of the day, and even with three bogeys on the back nine, won by seven shots. Buckman finished with scores of 73-76-74 – 223 (+7) for the event. Jason Wood (Portland, Ore.), who was tied for second entering Sunday’s final round, earned second place, shooting 76-78-76 – 230 (+14).
View results for Oregon Stroke Play
ABOUT THE
Oregon Stroke Play
Entries are open to amateur golfers with USGA
Handicap Indexes™
of 5.0 and less for the Men’s and Master 40
Divisions, and Seniors with
Handicap Indexes of 10.0 or less and are members
in good standing
of an OGA Member Club. All Contestants must be at
least 13 years
of age. Master 40s must be 40 years of age and
seniors must be 50 years of age or older.
54-hole stroke play competition with a cut to the low
half of the
field and ties in each division after two rounds of
play.
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