McKay and Sawyer Lead Oregon Mid-Amateur at Tetherow

BEND, ORE. (Saturday, July 11, 2009) – The first round of the Oregon Mid-Amateur commenced at the lengthy 6,963-yard par 72 layout at Tetherow in Bend, Ore. with high expectations and excitement expressed by players looking forward to playing the course. But throughout the day, there was a lot of head shaking going on at the scorers table as players came in to sign their score cards. With most of the field consisting of plus, scratch and low single-digit handicaps, scoring close to par is what they’re accustomed to seeing on their scorecard. The competition, open to amateur golfers age 25 and over is a 36-hole stroke play competition.

The course was designed by David McLay Kidd, who exploded on the golf architecture scene with his design of Bandon Dunes. This, his latest incarnation, is fast becoming one of the region’s most unique golf experiences. It integrates elements of his Bandon Dunes layout with fescue grasses, rippling fairways and run-up areas to extreme undulating greens that in some instances give you two shots at sinking a putt.

The course has an imaginative routing using the natural high desert terrain. A diverse mix of holes framed by knobs, knolls, water on the front nine, and trees on the back nine provides a variety of different experiences. As a result, Tetherow has received numerous accolades in its first year of operation including Best New Course by Golf Magazine and Links Magazine, and Top 10 Best New Courses by Golfweek Magazine.

Even though there is still one round to play, the winner for this tournament has already been declared, and it was the course.

Despite its accolades, the best golfers in the region saw scores balloon as the men averaged 84.85 with more than 153 scores greater than a double bogey. Among the women, the average score was 88.2. Reflecting on the day Martin Chuck, Tetherow’s Director of Golf noted, “It’s a perfect day and golfers are scoring a jillion. I feel bad about it.

Defending Men’s champion Jeff Nielson of Gresham, Ore., who scored 9-under par last year at Centennial GC in Medford, Ore. was 11-over par for the day. Defending women’s champion Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore. shot 17-over par today playing the course at 5,765 yards.

But by all accounts, despite their scores, the players all thought highly of Tetherow.

“Whoever wins this tournament has truly conquered a championship caliber course,” noted Brent Whittaker, Director of Tournament Operations for the Oregon Golf Association. A testament to the difficulty of the course was that only one player in the men’s field was able to shoot even par or better with only 5 other players coming within 5-strokes.

The leader and sole player to score under par was Chad Sawyer of West Linn, Ore. who never saw the course until today but was still able to muster a 1-under par 38-33—71. “I played scared,” said Sawyer. “I played really conservatively hitting mostly 3-irons and hybrids off the tee. There’s too much trouble in the fairways and its easy to run through them,” added the former OSU golfer.

“The key to playing this course is managing your game off the tee,” said Tetherow Head Professional Caleb Anderson. “If I see a player hitting a driver off the 1st Tee, I automatically think the won’t have any chance to win.” The Men’s Course recond is held by Louie Runge, a PGA Professional hailing from Willapa Harbor, Wash. who scored 68 last year during a PGA Section event.

Brooks Newsom of Portland, Ore. is 2-strokes off the pace, and Erik Myrmo of Eugene, Ore. is one more stroke back.

Loree McKay of Portland, Ore., who yesterday won the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur, leads the Women’s Division at 10-over par, a remarkable feat considering she has had to play 97 holes of competitive golf in just the past three days.

She’ll have no time to rest as there are several players within striking distance including Sasha Dunlap of Tigard, Ore. who took a quadruple-bogey 9 on her last hole of the day too fall 1-stroke behind McKay. “You just have to play it safe and chip it out when you get into trouble, otherwise the strokes really add up,” noted Dunlap.

McKay added, “It’s the kind of course where you take a bogey and just have to move on.”