QUILCENE GOLFER CLINT Allen recently claimed the Third Flight Double Amputee title at the Western Amputee Golf Association (WAGA) Championship Double at River Bend Golf Course in Kent.
Allen was injured in an industrial accident in 1987 that left him in the burn ward at Harborview Medical Center for 14 months and eventually ended up costing him the lower halves of both legs.
A host of surgeries followed and Allen, a lifelong sportsman, was left without a sport to play.
Enter golf, a pastime he had never tried.
“I didn’t think there was any kind of sports life out there for me after the accident,” Allen said.
“I had never even watched [golf] and didn’t know how to play.”
He practiced a few times before he mustered up the courage to try a round and like most first-timers he “got beaten up pretty badly” by the course.
Quickly, he was approached by fellow golfers and course staffers at Discovery Bay Golf Club near Port Townsend.
“You walk out there in a pair of shorts with two prosthetic legs and the old-timers are gonna talk with you,” Allen joked.
“If you are out there before 8 a.m. you know they are good and you should listen to them.”
Allen fell hard for golf, falling in love with the competitive aspect of the game and the challenges it afforded him.
He plays in “anything he is invited to and can afford to play” including the WAGA Tournament and a lot of able-bodied or “normie” tournaments like the Michael Barry
Stuck in a bunker during the WAGA tourney, he noticed he was being filmed by Seattle television station KCPQ-13.
Allen took some practice swings, maybe a few more than normal under the glare of the camera, careful not to ground his club in the hazard.
He then blasted out of the bunker to about 15 feet from the pin with the ball then trickling into the cup.
“It felt like a hole-in-one to me, really,” Allen said.
Allen is interested in playing in more Amputee tournaments across the USA or around the world.
He’s trying to get to Sacramento for an October tournament but funding these golf trips are an issue for a guy receiving workmen’s compensation.
If you would like to help out or play a round with Allen, phone him at 360-765-0318 or email him at c.allen4860@yahoo.com.
57th Girls Jr. Amateur
Records are falling during the 57th Pacific Northwest Junior Girls Amateur Championship held through Thursday at SunLand Golf & Country Club in Sequim.
Hannah Swanson of Forest Grove, Ore., and Jordan Ferreira of University Place both shot 2-under-par 70s Monday to lead the tournament.
The previous ladies course record was even-par 72.
The course was played from 5,730 yards.
Ferreira was named the 2011 Washington State Golf Association’s Junior Girls Player of the Year and finished tied for third after the stroke play portion of the 2012 U.S. Junior Girls Amateur before being upset in the first round of match play at the event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, Calif.
Match play started Tuesday with more set for Wednesday and Thursday.
Head out to the course if you would like to see some up-and-coming future LPGA Tour players.
Past champions include northwest ladies golf legends Jo Ann Washam, Peggy Conley, Joan Edwards-Powell, Mary Budke, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, and current LPGA Tour players Paige McKenzie and Jimin Kang.
Ludlow Kids Day set
Port Ludlow Golf Course will hold a kids golf day Saturday.
Ages 5 and older will receive instruction from PGA-certified professionals from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Participants will also receive a golf club that is fitted to them to keep.
Throughout the day all skill levels will be given appropriate group instruction and an opportunity to learn the skills necessary to play the game of golf.
The lesson plan includes all aspects of golf: putting, chipping, pitching, full swing and the rules.
The cost is $25 per player for the clinic or $45 which includes instruction and unlimited golf.
TOP match Monday
Ladies golfers from Peninsula Golf Club and SunLand will compete in a Teams of Olympic Peninsula (TOP) event at Cedars at Dungeness Golf Club in Sequim at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
TOP was organized in 1987 to “foster better golf and create camaraderie among golfers of similar skills from other clubs of various golf courses.”
Six to eight teams from around the entire Olympic Peninsula and even the Kitsap and Key peninsulas have competed each year with participating clubs fielding two-player teams in four brackets in a team/match play best ball gross and net format.
This 2012 TOP season consists of teams from Lakeland Village in Allyn, Madrona Links in Gig Harbor, Meadowmeer and Wing Point on Bainbridge Island and ladies from Peninsula and SunLand.
In a sportsmanlike twist to the competition, no matches are played at host courses — all contests are at neutral sites.
This year’s TOP matches are held at the Olympic and Cascade courses at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Port Ludlow, White Horse in Kingston and Cedars at Dungeness.
PT Men’s Club titleists
Champions were crowned in gross and net competitions at the Port Townsend Men’s Club Championship this past weekend.
On day one of the contest, the course was set at a moderate difficulty level to try and yield some low scores, with forward tees and inviting pin placements
Competition was fierce, with many players within striking distance on both gross and net sides.
Tourney staffers tucked the pins in difficult spots on the target-sized greens Sunday, setting up tough scoring conditions with an emphasis on strategy and shotmaking.
In the gross competition Greg Miller (74-76) bested Chris Holloway (75-75) in a three-hole playoff for the coveted closest-to-the-clubhouse parking spot and the bragging rights that come with it.
Ben Krabill, a former Port Townsend High School protege of Port Townsend assistant pro Gabriel Tonan, won his own parking spot with net scores of 66-63 to top Rick Gore (69-63).
Head pro Mike Early praised Fred Heywood, Gene Yantz, Don Moody, Tim Durner, Scott Ramey “and anybody I missed” for their volunteer work in helping set up the course for the event.
He also offered a big thank you on behalf of all the players to course staffer Vicki Handyside for the great meals she prepared both days.
Congratulations to Greg and Ben and enjoy those spots!
SunLand champions
SunLand recently crowned a host of club champions:
■ Men’s Gross: Jay Tomlin
■ Men’s Net: Gene Collet
■ SunLand Women’s Golf Association Gross: Marine Hirschfeld
■ SunLand Women’s Golf Association Net: Pennie Dickin
■ Super Seniors Men Gross: Mike Novotny
■ Super Seniors Men Net: Gene Collet
■ Super Seniors Women Gross: Ruth Lowe
■ Super Seniors Women Net: Marsha Carr
■ Lady Niners Gross: Susan Elvert
■ Lady Niners Net: Kathy Tiedeman
■ Men’s Niners Net: Mike Mckenna
■ Associate Club Championship (Under age 55) Gross: Tracy Dunlap
Net: Glynn Brown.
LPGA, Champions visit
If you are willing to brave temperatures that might climb to 100 degrees, the LPGA Tour is visiting Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon for a 54-hole tourney Friday through Sunday.
For more information, visit www.safewayclassic.com.
Champions Tour set
The Champions Tour will make its annual stop to the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge near North Bend next week.
Attendees can see Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer and Corey Pavin, who is making his first-ever appearance at the event.
For more information, visit boeingclassic.com.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-417-3527 or
pdngolf@gmail.com.
