Third Oregon Four-Ball Championship Begins Friday at Juniper Golf Course
REDMOND, Ore. – The 3rd Oregon Amateur Four-Ball Championship, featuring top two-person teams from around the region, will begin Friday at Juniper Golf Course in Redmond, Ore.
The event will run Aug. 24-27, 2018, and features three divisions: Open, Women’s and Senior Men’s. All sides will play 18-holes of stroke play qualifying on Friday, with match play commencing Saturday-Monday.
The Open division includes the defending two-time champions, Trevor Harding (Portland, Ore.) and Brent McKee (Portland, Ore.). However, both players will be playing with different partners this year – Harding with 2018 Oregon Amateur champion Robbie Ziegler (Portland, Ore.) and McKee with 2016 Oregon Mid-Amateur winner and 2018 Oregon Men’s Stroke Play runner-up Philip Bagdade (Portland, Ore.).
Notable sides competing this year include Spencer Tibbits (Vancouver, Wash.) and Ben Gruher (Camas, Wash.). Tibbits, a rising sophomore at Oregon State, was the 2018 Oregon Amateur runner-up, while Gruher plays collegiately at Seattle University. Also competing is the side of incoming University of Oregon freshman Craig Ronne (Klamath Falls, Ore.) and Maurisio Rayas (Tigard, Ore.), as well as 2016 runners-up Jim Dunlap (Tigard, Ore.) and Jay Poletiek (Happy Valley, Ore.).
This year’s OGA Tournament of Champions winner Blake Seabaugh (Tigard, Ore.) and playing partner JC Riter (Beaverton, Ore.) will be competing, along with Chris Dukeminier (Portland, Ore.) and Will Snow (Vancouver, Wash.), semifinalists in 2016.
The Women’s field is highlighted by defending champions Kailin Downs (Oregon City, Ore.) and Amy Anderson (Bend, Ore.). Downs, the Women’s Golf Coach at Portland State, is also a former Oregon Women’s Amateur champion, winning in 2002.
Also playing is a legendary duo – Mary Budke (Palm Springs, Calif.) and Marcia Fisher (Molalla, Ore.). Between the two players, Budke and Fisher have won a combined 15 Oregon Women’s Amateur titles – an astounding feat. Budke is a former U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, and both players are members of the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame.
Another side to watch is 2016 Oregon Women’s Amateur champion Krissy Peterson (Canby, Ore.) and 2016 Oregon Women’s Stroke Play winner Hannah Swanson (Forest Grove, Ore.).
In the Senior Men’s division, last year’s winners Byron Patton (Tigard, Ore.) and Jack Schneider (Oregon City, Ore.) are back. Carey Watson (Bend, Ore.) and Stein Swenson (Bend, Ore.), winners of the inaugural event in 2016, are also playing, along with 2016 runners-up Mark Bowler (Portland, Ore.) and David Lydell (Aloha, Ore.).
