The Men's competition began under benign conditions and the scores showed it, but typical gusting winds wreaked havoc on the players scheduled for the afternoon. Those that were scheduled for play Monday morning saw significantly lower scores with two-thirds of the field scoring 81 or better on the challenging 7,212-yard Bandon Dunes layout. The lowest scores of the afternoon came in at 82.
Leading the way was Byron Patton, 51, of Tigard, Ore. with an astounding even par round of 35-37--72 including three birdies and three bogeys. Last year, Patton was a semi-finalist in the Oregon Senior Amateur Championship. He leads Jim Dunlap,37, of Tigard, Ore. and Ian Dahl, 20 of Longview, Wash.
Dunlap was named the Oregon Golf Association's 2008 Golfer of the Year
after a stellar season in which he advanced to the round of 16 at the
U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.Dahl, a red-shirt freshman in the 2007-08 season at the University of California, qualified last year for match play in the PNGA Men's Amateur Championship (71-73 - 144), and finished 12th in both the Washington State Amateur (73-73-71-74 - 291) and Oregon Stroke Play Championship (75-74-78 - 227).
The 1997 Amateur Champion, Scott Hval, 48, of Portland, Ore., is just three strokes off the pace, and also within striking distance is last year's runner-up, Oregon State Assistant Coach Tim Sundseth, 26, of Redmond, Ore. and Chad Sawyer, 27 of West Linn, Ore. Sawyer recently won the Oregon Public Links Championship held at Sandpines Golf Links in Florence, Ore. Twenty-four players are within 5-strokes of the leader. Last year's Men's Champion, Blake Seabaugh of Tigard, Ore. will not be defending his title as he recently turned professional.
The Oregon Amateur, considered the "major" amateur golf in the region, is also one of the oldest and most prestigious sporting competitions in the state featuring of the best amateur golfers in the region. To be eligible, a player must be an amateur golfer with a USGA Handicap Index of 3.4 or less. Three qualifiers were held to select the players to advance to the tournament proper.
While many state Championships have become stroke play competitions, the Oregon Amateur, remains true to its roots playing the same traditional match play format that's used to this day to determine the best amateur champions even at the national level. It's also one of the few men's and women's amateurs held concurrently, always played at the same time at the same site. Started in 1904, this year's event will be its 100th occurrence. The only years it was not held was during World Wars I and II.
In the Women's Division, Kendra Little, 20, of Eugene, Ore., shot an
incredible 5-over par 37-40--77 as 30-40 mile afternoon winds made
playing the 6,131-yard layout at Bandon Dunes extremely difficult. She
leads the rest of the field by five strokes to lead the rest of the a
sophomore this past season playing for the Oregon Ducks, was one of the
nation's top collegiate players and ended her spring season ranked 85th
by Golfstat and 103rd voerall by Golfweek. She took the 2008 Oregon
Women's Stroke Play title by eight strokes. Prior to her collegiate
career, she ranked in the top 20 in GolfWeek's junior girl national
ranking, played in the USGA Women's Amateur as a 15-year-old, and won
two Oregon Junior stroke play titles.Among those chasing Little are two-time Champion Charisse Spada, 47, of Porland, Ore., 2007 Oregon Amateur Champion Kristen Svicarovich, 24, of Hillsboro, Ore., Amy Beth Simanton, 17, of Lake Oswego, Ore., and Sandy Woodruff, 60, of Santa Cruz, Calif.
Spada who won her titles in 1982 and 1999. She is seven strokes behind after closing her round with a quintuple-bogey on the 17-hole. Simanton was runner-up in the Oregon Junior Amateur last year which was also held at Bandon Dunes, and Woodruff won the California Women's State Championship in 2006 sharing the title with LPGA notables including Natalie Gulbis and Erica Blasberg. Defending Champion Kate Hildahl, 20, or Tualating, Ore. is also in the hunt.
The most newsworthy event of the day was the withdrawal of Dusty Schmidt, 27, of Portland, Ore. who had earned an opportunity to compete after taking co-medalist honors at the qualifier held at the OGA Golf Course last month. Schmidt had to withdraw after the USGA declared him a non-amateur.
Schmidt, a self-proclaimed
"world's best golfer/poker player" recently
issued a public challenge on a social network/instructional website he
co-owns with Casey Martin, head coach of the University of Oregon Men's
Golf team. He staked $1 million of his own money (from more than $3 million in poker earnings the past two years) challenging anyone to a contest to prove who is best at both. The one-time golf prodigy won 34 of the 40 tournaments he had entered in one season as a junior golfer (1 more than the 33 out of 33 wins Tiger Woods achieved) and also beat Woods' record low score by 1-stroke in the 13-14 year old division at the Callaway Junior Worlds. A heart attack at age 23, while leading the money list on the Golden State Tour in 2004, put a stop to his professional golf career. While rehabilitating, he stated that he regained his amateur status, but unfortunately his recent actions may now thwart his amateur career as well.
On June 11, Bernie Loehr, USGA Manager of Amateur Status and Rules of Golf, informed Schmidt that his appearance in a promotional Million Dollar Challenge You-Tube video along with various press clippings was a breach of Rule 7-1 ("actions detrimental to the best interests of the amateur game") and Rule 7-2 ("actions relating to golf gambling, that [are] contrary to the purpose and spirit of the Rules") and therefore he forfeited his amateur status and was told that since he was no longer an amateur golfer, he may not participate in competitions limited to amateur golfers.
The timing couldn't have been worse for Schmidt. His first post heart-attack competition was the Oregon Amateur qualifier. He was also scheduled to compete in the Oregon Mid-Amateur qualifier on June 15, but was pulled from the field upon notice from the USGA. On Friday, June 19, Schmidt's attorney officially filed an appeal with the USGA and its Amateur Status committee, but during this period, the USGA informed the OGA that it still considers him to be a non-amateur.
In his initial letter to the USGA, Schmidt pointed out that no one has participated in the challenge to date and had removed the promotional video from his website and You-Tube and has rescinded the challenge to show the USGA that has no intention to do something that would affect his amateur status.
"It seems to me that their application of the rules of amateur status is arbitrary," said Schmidt. "Even the USGA has difficulty explaining it to me. So far, it's just been words...just talking, and they are trying to punish me as though this all actually happened."
Had he known that issuing the challenge would be interpreted as a breach by the USGA, he says he would not have done so. "In short, I just would like to get back to playing golf," he added.
"It's unfortunate this had to happen," said Craig Winter, OGA Manager of Rules Education. "Dusty proved his ability as a player during qualifying and we were all hoping a Ruling would be reached that would allow him to play. While we awaited final word from the USGA on his status, we held his spot until the last minute. In fact, it was only 15-minutes prior to his 8:20am starting time that an alternate was given his spot. As a licensed representative of the USGA for the region, we had no choice but to follow the ruling set forth by the governing body of the game of golf."