Salem Golf Club hosted 10 groups from the PCGC to compete for the first piece of hardware of the season in the Ron Eng Memorial Trophy. The weather was perfect as short sleeves and shorts were worn by most the field. We were reminded of the destruction of the winter storm a couple of months ago as there were piles of debris scattered across the golf course.  The course was setup with Sunday Pin Placements that challenged you if you were on the wrong side of the hole, as the fast downhill looks was a 3 putt waiting to happen. Hank Lawrence almost cashed in big from the Hole in One Club as his tee shot at Hole #12 was stuck pretty tight. Congratulation to Rian Kindig as he was in the final group and took down the leader in the clubhouse with a Net 68 to get his name etched on the trophy.

Match Play Qualifer

The current cutline from the 1st round of the Match Play Qualifying is at Net 79 (see the event results page for current standings). Elk Ridge will be another chance to improve on your score to get into the tournament or move up in the seeding bracket.

We had 27 golfers make the trip to Longview, Washington for a day of golf. A malfunctioning railroad crossing delayed many golfers from getting to the course early as the law abiding Oregonians patiently waited for the train to come. The “locals” knew better and told us that happens all the time and to just look both ways before going across.  That little bit of local knowledge allowed us to make our tee times.

The course had great drainage as always and we actually found extra yardage from the forward roll from our shots. A cold wind and possible showers was enough incentive for Clark Louie to upgrade to a fully covered cart. It was a great call as we also used the cart at the end of the round as a shelter to do our scoring as the late afternoon rain came. In fact the 18th green developed a river that ran right through the hole and off the green. I’m sure that will be the excuse Lek Vongthongthip will use to explain his “Three (Rivers) Putt”.

Patrick Chin was in the second group and set the bar high for KP at Hole #3 that played at 106 yards as he almost got himself a Hole in One. As a consolation prize he walked away with a prized “birdie”.

The first drawing for our Hit the Green raffle by Bill Chan rewarded Carl Louie for “A” Flight and Celia Chan drew our potential new member Toshi Sakuma for the “B” Flight.

The Opening Day welcomed 33 golfers to Glendoveer East to test their skills at a course that definitely plays different in the summertime where the dreaded “mud ball” is not a concern. The scores reflected the challenge of the winter conditions as Rian Kindig nets 75 to take low honors. The first round also served as “Training Day” for the many that put on some weight over the off season and needed the “Iron Man” challenge of the steep hills to burn those calories. Welcome back to Harvey Chan who missed last season with surgery for his Achilles as he picked a tough track to walk for his first time back on the course. Skylar Felton one of our newer members missed the last summer with a knee surgery and seemed to bounce back just fine as he placed in the Top 5 on the leaderboard.  Last year we saw Kay Yamanaka cruising around on the Golf Board, but this year the muddy conditions grounded the Golf Boards and Carts from the course. This may be a good thing as Kay recently had shoulder surgery and his doctor would not be too keen on his thrill seeking ways.