more photosGolfers participating in this week's Pacific Amateur Golf Classic get in some practice at the Meadows Course driving range Saturday at Sunriver Resort. The Classic, now in its 10th year, begins today at seven Central Oregon golf courses.
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Largest golf tournament in area teeing off today
Players recall nearly a decade of Pacific Amateur memories
By Heather Clark / The Bulletin
Published: October 02. 2006 4:00AM PSTThat first year - back in 1997 - it was cold.
Really cold.
Golfers encountered near-freezing temperatures, snow flurries, rain and a host of other wintry conditions at the first-ever Pacific Amateur Golf Classic, which attracted not quite 300 players.
David Roon of Austin, Texas, nearly didn't come back.
"At first, it sounded like fun - a golfing vacation/golf tournament combination in the High Desert of Central Oregon," recalls Roon, now in his 10th year competing at the amateurs-only event. "But I have to tell you, that first year when it was cold and spitting snow could have been the end of it for us."
But Roon did return - year after year, in fact, with different groups of friends, all of which included Larry Minor and Ed Peterson, golfing buddies from Seattle.
As play gets under way today, Roon's trio and a dozen other golfers attending this week's Pac Am can stake claim to having participated in all 10 tournaments over the years. This year they are part of the record 725 players from across the United States, including a smattering of international players, who are competing at seven Central Oregon golf courses this week.
Pac Am golfers compete over 54 holes at three different courses each day in one of 31 flights based on their handicap, age and gender. The top two net scores in each flight after three rounds then advance to a championship round Thursday at Sunriver Resort's Crosswater Club, where 30 flight champions and one overall net champion will be crowned.
There is one open (gross) flight for golfers who choose not play with a handicap.
Ten-year participant Jim Moore of Seattle, who had never played in a golf tournament prior to his first Pac Am in 1997, says he returns each year to see how his game "measures up."
"Even though you realize you're not on the (pro) tour, sometimes you feel the pressure," says Moore, 49, of the competitive atmosphere at the Pac Am. "But more than anything, I enjoy the camaraderie and the friendships you make, the people you see year after year.
"It's a nice end-of-the-year thing to do before you put your sticks away," adds Moore, a sports columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Charley Spilker of Portland remembers that first chilly year at the Pac Am.
"It was pretty small, and the weather was pretty crappy," recalls Spilker, who is competing this week in the men's 50 to 59 age division. "We played at Black Butte (Ranch) on the final day and it was snowing. All the Californians had bailed and gone home because it was too cold." Although he's posted mixed results on the Pac Am leaderboard over the years, Spilker says the opportunity to play different courses draws him back to the tournament.
"The (Eagle Crest) Ridge Course just kills me every year," says Spilker, who has twice qualified for the final round at Crosswater. "Just the whole damn course. I go there with friends (at other times) and shoot a great round. Then, I go to the tournament and they move the tees back and it tears me up every year."
The number of flights this year has been nearly doubled - and not just because 50 more golfers registered for the 2006 event than the previous year.
More flights were added to the tournament in order to ensure equitable play between golfers in the handicap-based competition. Each flight will include approximately 20 golfers.
"We wanted to keep the flights smaller because (there was) a big variance between handicaps," says tournament director Michael Patron. "A lot of players will see that as a more fair competition."
Also new for the 10th year is the plan to name 31 champions. In years past, only an overall winner, runner-up and a low-gross player were awarded Pac Am titles.
"They're now going to compete in a one-day head-to-head competition against each other," explains Patron. "On top of that, they're competing for the overall championship, which is the low-net score of the entire field. The first-place person (in each flight) goes home with a trophy."
An additional age division was added in both the men's and women's fields. The women's contest will see its first senior division for players ages 60 and older, while a 50-59 category has been carved out of the men's ranks.
La Pine's Quail Run Golf Course, which unveiled an additional nine holes in July to become an 18-hole facility, is the only golf course added to the Pac Am lineup this year.
Fortunately, it's unlikely that players will encounter those same frigid conditions that tormented golfers at the inaugural Pacific Amateur Golf Classic. More seasonable fall temperatures - in the 50s and 60s - are forecast for this week.
But for some committed Pac Am players, it likely wouldn't matter what the thermostat reads.
"Every year," says Seattle's Moore, "I can't wait to get down there."
Heather Clark can be reached at 617-7868 or at hclark@bendbulletin.com.
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