(Woodburn, Ore) - Birdies were all the rage at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Sectional Qualifier on the 6,565 yard par-72 OGA Golf Course on Friday, Sept. 19. The teams of Jim Dunlap (Tigard, Ore.), his partner Jay Poletiek (Portland, Ore.) and Tim Tucker (Coos Bay, Ore.), and his partner Kyle Crawford (Coos Bay, Ore.) both fired rounds of 10-under par 62 to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which will be held May 2-6, 2015 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.

After making bogey on the first hole, Dunlap said he looked at his partner (Poletiek) and said, “I am glad we got that out of the way.” Away they went as they birdied the next four holes. “We had four twos on our card,” said Poletiek, referring to making birdie on four of the par threes.  This will be the 10th USGA championship for Poletiek and the sixth for Dunlap.

Crawford and Tucker was the team that came out of nowhere. After making the turn at an unassuming 3-under par, they birdied seven of the nine holes on the back nine. The two fired an amazing four-ball score of 10-under par 33-29-62. They ham and egged it well around the course carding no bogeys over their round. Both players are caddies at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and have been friends for quite a while.

The first alternate went to the team of Matt Keyser (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and Eric Dahm (Wilsonville, Ore.). They were one of the first groups of the day and they had their score at 10-under par but a costly bogey on the 18th hole left them sitting around waiting to find out their fate. A playoff was needed to decide the second alternate position and after two holes the team of Chris Heniff (Beaverton, Ore.) and Ford Montgomery (Tigard, Ore.) won.

The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball is an inaugural Championship for the USGA. The format for the competition is a team of two players whose lowest score for the hole counts for the team.