GALLERY TICKETS FOR the four-day U.S. Open tournament June 18-21 at Chambers Bay near Tacoma are sold out.
There are still gallery and Trophy Club tickets left for practice rounds for Monday through Wednesday, June 15-17, and some pricey 1895 Club tickets left for Thursday’s opening round.
This means if you have any interest in following the game’s greats, act fast by visiting www.usga.org/tickets.
Hole-by-hole preview
To tie in with television station KCPQ-13’s parent network Fox, broadcast of the U.S. Open, the local station’s Sunday night sports show will begin a week-by-week profile of all 18 holes at Chambers Bay starting Sunday.
The sports staff already has toured the course and discussed the changes made in advance of the big tournament with course designer Robert Trent Jones Jr.
This can be viewed at tinyurl.com/PDN-ChambersChanges.
KCPQ sports anchor Aaron Levine also sat down with Fox Sports lead golf broadcasters Joe Buck and Greg Norman to discus the tournament in a spot that aired Sunday.
It can be seen at tinyurl.com/PDN-OpenAnchors.
Fair warning, for whatever reason, Levine asks the Australian Norman his thoughts on the Seattle Seahawks final offensive play in the Super Bowl.
Spoiler alert: Norman didn’t like it. But the Shark does know something about epic collapses in crucial moments, just remember his performance down the stretch in the 1996 Masters.
Arctic Open
Port Townsend Golf Course hosted its “major tournament” of the year, the 29th annual Arctic Open last Saturday and Sunday.
“The Arctic Open is our largest tournament of the year with players coming from Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Ludlow, Bainbridge Island and other cities around the area,” head pro Gabriel Tonan said.
“This is always a great event, we play no matter what.”
Past tourneys have been played on a frozen course, and last year’s event was played in a light dusting of snow.
“Sometime during the late 1980s or early 1990s the tournament was played in 6 to 8 inches of snow,” Tonan said.
“Greens were cleared and sleds were used instead of pull carts.”
This year, competitors played through a Pineapple Express weather system, with warm temperatures and a surplus of rain.
“The course was really wet, which is uncharacteristic for Port Townsend Golf Course,” Tonan said
“[This made] the ability to hit consistent golf shots extremely tough.”
Peninsula Golf Club members Gary Thorne and Mark Mitrovich teamed up to conquer the course and earn low gross of the field after a two-day total of 131.
This edged Chimacum High School graduates Aaron Barrows and Eric Nelson, who were two shots back at 133.
Al West and Doug Collins earned low net honors after firing a 117.
Woody Woodley and John Baker were four strokes back in second at 121.
“A special thank you to Bud Light, Crown Distributing for sponsoring this tournament,” Tonan said.
“Thank you to my staff and Mike Lux for all your help getting the course ready for the tournament.”
Cedars ladies tourney
The women of Cedars are looking for players from other courses to participate in a Spring Swing golf tourney Thursday, Feb. 26.
This is a preseason, introductory tourney for all women interested in a fun golf league.
Players can choose from nine holes for $14 or 18 holes for $25.
There’s no mandated score posting. Winter rules and organizers call for a “loose format of good fun.”
There will be a golf clinic provided by a Cedars pro and tee favors for participants.
Organizers invite participating ladies to “freeze your tees off,” during the event.
To register, phone 360-797-3450.
Two golf legends pass
The game of golf lost two legends last week, Charlie Sifford, the Jackie Robinson of the sport, died last week at age 92, and Billy Casper, sixth all-time in wins with 51, died at 83.
Sifford, an Army veteran of World War II, was denied the ability to play on the PGA Tour for more than a decade thanks to the tour’s whites-only policy.
He broke the color barrier in 1960 and won twice on the PGA Tour, as well as the PGA Seniors Championship in 1975.
Sifford was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November.
“Folks threatened him, shouted slurs from the gallery,” President Obama said at the White House ceremony last year.
Fellow pros and the gallery sometimes kicked Sifford’s ball into the rough, the president said.
Casper’s greatness was dimmed a bit by playing during the golden age of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
Casper’s still the seventh-winningest PGA Tour player of all time with 51 victories, including two U.S. Open wins and a Masters title.
He also went undefeated in nine Ryder Cup events for the U.S., eight as a player, one as captain for the 1979 Cup.
“Golf was never the most important thing in Billy’s life — family was,” Nicklaus said in a Facebook post.
“There was always much more to Billy Casper than golf. But as a golfer, Billy was a fantastic player, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for being one.
“I have said many times that during my career, when I looked up at a leaderboard, I wasn’t just looking to see where a Palmer or a Player or a Trevino was. I was also checking to see where Billy Casper was.”
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or pdngolf@gmail.com.
