WHAT A WHIRLWIND of a week for SunLand Golf & Country Club pro Tyler Sweet and SunLand members Walter Clark, Mike Phelan and Fred Smith.
As I detailed in last week’s golf column, Sweet claimed the 2009 ESPN National Golf Challenge Club Pro Tournament in a one-hole playoff in Las Vegas to earn an oversized $10,000 first-prize check.
He then continued the jet-set lifestyle by flying to Pinehurst, N.C. to team with Clark, Phelan and Smith in the 2009 PGA McGladrey Team Championship on three of Pinehurst’s eight 18-hole courses last week.
Yes, that’s right, eight championship-caliber courses at one location.
“The courses are everything they are hyped to be,” Smith said.
“It was an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime type experience . . . it’s a golf mecca.”
Smith explained that the group practiced putting on “a putting green that was probably 2 or 2 ½ acres in size,” and the course contained separate yet equally impressive chipping and sand facilities.
Teams were also able to rub shoulders with Team McGladrey endorsers Zach Johnson, winner of the 2007 Masters, longtime top-10 PGA player Chris DiMarco and LPGA sensation Natalie Gulbis.
The tournament was played in a best-ball format, with all four players playing their own ball and recording the two best net scores for each hole.
Struggling with 30-plus mile-per-hour winds on day one, the group eventually came back to the clubhouse with a 2-under par 144 on the Pinehurst No. 8 course.
“It was a different type of wind than what you run into around here,” Smith said.
“If you hit a high shot here, the chances are you will carry it through, but there, even if it was blowing away from you, it would get caught and pulled down.”
The foursome regrouped to record day two’s most-improved score after posting a 15-under par 129 on the most famous course at Pinehurst, No. 2 — site of the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Open championships.
“For No. 2 we hired a great caddie just to read the greens,” Smith said.
“He would tell you it’s going to do this or that, and you would look at him like he was on crack, but it would do what he said every time.”
SunLand entered the final day in a tie for 17th place at 17-under 271 and moved up to finish in a three-way tie for 12th place at 31-under par for the tournament.
Congratulations to the SunLand crew for their achievements on the big stage.
Hilltop this Saturday
I’ve been hyping it for a few weeks, and this Saturday the Hilltop Open tees off at Port Townsend Golf Club.
The club will use a two-person 6-6-6 format (six holes best ball, six holes scramble, six holes chapman) with a 10 a.m. shotgun start.
Cost is $40 for members, $50 for nonmembers with a homemade lasagna feed and award presentation following play at the Hilltop Tavern.
Check in at 360-385-4547 to see about available spots.
WSGA winners
The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) has announced its state players of the year for 2009 with Silverdale’s Erynne Lee repeating as girls junior player of the year.
Lee, a 16-year-old junior at Central Kitsap High School, had a sensational season, making the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the round of 32 at the U.S. Junior Girls Championship and won the American Junior Golf Association’s Kathy Whitworth Invitational.
With her talent level, I feel its only a matter of time before we will be following Lee on the LPGA Tour.
Other WSGA state players of the year: Zach Wanderscheid of Goldendale (junior boys), Derek Berg of Duvall (men), Bob Burton of Everett (senior men), Pamela Burneski of Surrey, B.C. (women) and Ginny Burkey of Fircrest (senior women).
Area results
Port Ludlow Golf Club’s 18-Hole Women’s Golf Group capped its season by playing nine holes of ghoulish, Halloween-inspired golf last Tuesday.
In honor of the holiday, teams all had appropriate names.
A ball was given to each team, and the three team players each had to score on three holes for a team total.
Taking top honors were the Wicked Witches, composed of Gale Byington, Anne Weigel and Margo Campbell.
Coming in second were the Vampie Vampires with Carol Katuzny, Elvira Schawel and Barbara Berthiaume followed by the Devilish Demons with Lucinda Thompson, Sandy MacDonald and Grace Allen.
The ladies dined at a Halloween-decorated Niblicks courtesy of Beth Weaver and her committee.
Lunch was held at Niblicks with a Halloween decoration courtesy of Beth Weaver and her committee.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-504-0181 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.
