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Jeld-Wen Tradition Honorary Observer Contest Winners
Steve Bryant (and his guest) will be walking inside the ropes at the Jeld-Wen Tradition on Thursday, Aug. 19, and Jesse Salzwedel will be attending on Friday, August 20. They will be joined by the Net winners of the OGA Parent-Child Chapman (Gordon and Corbin Duncan) who will get their Honorary Observer opportunity on Saturday while repeat gross champion Lindsay Harmon (and guest) will be inside the ropes for the final round.
Here are the winning entries:
Jesse Salzwedel, Wilsonville, Ore.
Golf has always been the hobby that took my mind off the problems that engulfed my everyday world. Growing up with epilepsy, my childhood was a lot more difficult to bear then most teens who wanted to live a normal life. I always had to watch my sleep, stress, and food levels so it didn’t throw off my neurological balance and send me into a seizure. But through it all, I knew God was using me for a very important purpose, and that event came late in my senior year at Wilsonville High School.
Throughout my four years at WHS, I stood in the shadows of other great golfers on my team. But when they left, and it was my year to be the leader, I knew that I needed to elevate my game and prove to people that I could overcome this illness. I started off the year very well, and continued to shoot low scores and lead my team to a district title. Finally, the OSAA 2010 Golf State Championships arrived at Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis, OR, and I had never been more excited for an event in my life.
Through blistering conditions, I shot a two-day-score of 145, which was good enough to win not only the 5A State Title, but low enough to beat all players in 6A! When they called my name as this years state champion, a whirlwind of emotions overcame me and my family: just three years earlier I was in a hospital bed, unconscious after a 9-hour brain surgery, my family wondering if I would ever be able to pick up the game again that I loved so dearly. Now, God had used me to show people that all things are possible if you have faith in him.
When interviewed by Oregonian Reporters, not once did I mention the reason that I won was because I played better then everyone else or that I scored the lowest. The reason I won was because God was with me and I had trust in him. Below is a quote that I told reporters when they asked me what I was thinking after I had won the tournament.
"In my way of thinking, God spared me, being normal, so I was playing for him," Salzwedel said. "I wasn't playing for myself, or that I'm known as a state champion. I'm playing for God and what he did for me."
Winning the OSAA Golf State Championship was much more then being known as the best high school golfer at that point in time. It was confirmation that I am now a healthy teenager and equally competitive golfer. This unforgettable and emotional day was something that will be held in my heart forever.
Read More about Jesse Salzwedel and the 2010 5A OSAA High School Championships or click here to read about Jesse's off-course obstacles
Steve Bryant, Albany, Ore.
There is something special, even inexplicable, about the father/son relationship built through years on the golf course. At two week's old, my son's first Christmas present was a tiny set of golf clubs (see photo). By age five, he had grooved a picture-perfect swing and was soon accompanying me on a regular Sunday afternoon round at Spring Hill Country Club in Albany. Summers became our favorite season as we built many of our vacation plans around OGA's Junior Golf tournament schedule. Later he earned All-State status as a high school golfer followed by collegiate competition. Ben is now 23 and starting a new career, so our regular rounds have become much less frequent, but our shared memories on the links near and far will last a lifetime. Those memories mirror life's journey of tragedy, renewal, triumph, and adventure.
Near-tragedy struck unexpectedly in July of 1999 while we were playing at Elkhorn Valley Golf Course near our family cabin. Ben was twelve and now beating me on a regular basis. We were both playing well on that beautiful summer day, but by the 16th hole I began feeling ill. I didn't say anything, but by the 18th tee I know something was seriously wrong and I announced that I was walking in. I could see the concern on Ben's face, but I assured him that I just needed to go sit in the shade. A short ride to our cabin and laying with a bag of ice on my head brought no relief. An hour later, I was being whisked away in an ambulance followed by my anxious wife and son. I can remember desperately wanting Ben in that ambulance with me to give us both comfort. At 47 and in excellent shape, a heart attack was nowhere in my realm of thinking, but doctors said that it was only because of my conditioning that I was able to survive this one. Soon, those father/son golf rounds became my much needed therapy and they took on new meaning for the gift of more time spent together. It was a truly a time of renewal.
Triumph for Ben came on a crisp and bright New Year's Day, 2001, at age fourteen. We began the morning expecting our usual New Year's ritual of watching bowl games all day; however the beckoning sunshine and melting frost lured us out to a nearly vacant golf course. Ben's Christmas present a week earlier had been another set of clubs that we built together from components I had ordered from a catalog. He adjusted to the longer shafts quickly and by the back nine was striking with natural ability. Magic struck on the 151-yard 14th hole when his perfectly struck six-iron took one hop and jumped into the cup. The club gave him a trophy with the engraved date, 1-1-01, and holding the Titleist 1 that he used. We each still only have one career ace and the contest is on for someone to take the lead with two.
In the years that have followed we have turned more of our golf outings, though less frequent, into memorable adventures. These have turned into pilgrimages as near as Bandon Dunes and as far away as Ireland. That trip in particular in seared in my memory as the experience of a lifetime. A perfect Irish rainbow frames our smiling faces at County Sligo Golf Club (see photo). Not coincidentally, both of us share a favorite golf book, Final Rounds; a father, a son, the golf journey of a lifetime, by James Dodson. Someday, there will be a final round, but for now we relish every adventure, the bonds that they build, and the wonders of a game that so closely mimics life.
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