Field Set for 31st Oregon Senior Amateur Championship
Woodburn, Ore. (September 18, 2014) – More than 100 of the best golfers over the age of 50 from Oregon and Southwest Washington are ready to compete in the 31st Oregon Senior Amateur Championship, running from Sept. 22-26 at Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla, Ore.
Monday will include 18 holes of qualifying for both men and women. Match play will start on Tuesday and proceed through Friday. The women’s final match will commence on Thursday, and the men’s championship final will take place on Friday.
“We’re looking forward to having many of the best senior golfers in the area competing at Arrowhead Golf Club next week,” said Brent Whittaker, OGA Director of Tournament Operations. “With so many storied competitors participating in this year’s event, it’s sure to be a close and competitive Championship.”
The Men’s Division is led by three-time defending champion Scott Hval (Portland, Ore.). Hval, the only person to have ever won more than two consecutive Oregon Senior Amateur titles, won the 2014 OGA Tournament of Champions earlier this year at Langdon Farms Golf Club in Aurora, Ore.
The last men’s player to win the Oregon Senior Amateur before Hval is Pat O’Donnell (Happy Valley, Ore.) in 2010. O’Donnell made it to the round of 64 at the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship earlier this week, after finishing as the runner-up at the 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur. Randy Mahar (Portland, Ore.) also played in the U.S. Senior Amateur this past week, and is coming off a victory in the Oregon Senior Stroke Play Championship in August.
Byron Patton (Tigard, Ore.), the 2012 Oregon Public Links champion, finished just behind Mahar and in second place in this year’s Oregon Senior Stroke Play Championship. Last year’s runner up in the Oregon Senior Amateur, Kevin Klabunde (Medford, Ore.), and the medalist in the stroke play qualifying, Tim O’Neal (Vancouver, Wash.), will also be in the field and looking for a win this year.
2004 Oregon Senior Amateur champion Brad Skreen (West Linn, Ore.) and 2012 Oregon Mid-Amateur winner David Jacobsen (Portland, Ore.) are also in next week’s field.
In the Women’s Division, defending champion Leilani Norman (Eugene, Ore.) will look to win a second consecutive title. Norman advanced to the round of 64 in the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur Championship earlier this week.
Storied OGA competitor Loree McKay (Hillsboro, Ore.) will be battling for her third Oregon Women’s Senior Amateur title, while Anita Wicks (Roseburg, Ore.) will be looking for her first after winning back-to-back titles in the Oregon Women’s Senior Stroke Play Championship earlier this summer and in 2013. Charisse Spada (Portland, Ore.), two-time Oregon Women’s Amateur champion (1982, 1999), is also in next week’s field.
Arrowhead Golf Club, located in Molalla, Ore. will play at 6,503 yards with a course rating and slope of 71.4/128 for the men and 5,378 yards and a course rating and slope of 71.0/125 for the women.
For complete coverage of the 31st Oregon Senior Amateur Championship, please visit www.oregonsenioram.org
About The Oregon Golf Association (OGA) is a 501(c)(6) non-profit membership association. Founded in 1924, the OGA was originally established with the sole purpose of conducting the Oregon Amateur Championship. Since its founding in 1924, the OGA works tirelessly to promote, foster and grow the game of golf providing a multitude of benefits and services to approximately 42,000 individual men, women, senior, and junior members at over 270 member golf clubs and 190 golf courses throughout Oregon and SW Washington.
