CLEARING AWAY THE cobwebs from a dog days of August vacation, I’m back with a column celebrating some area club champions of recent vintage.
Peninsula Golf Club in Port Angeles recently crowned a slate of men’s and women’s gross and net title-winners.
Sherry Henderson picked up her second Peninsula Golf Club Lady Golfers victory in three years after shooting a two-day low gross score of 173. Doris Sparks was the runner-up after finishing one stroke back of Henderson and tied with Dolly Burnett and Rena Peabody.
The trio decided second place with a playoff won by Sparks on the second hole.
Barbara Thompson won the low-net title with a score of 138, holding off second-place Marie Murata’s 139.
The Peninsula Lady Golfers tee off at 9 a.m. Wednesday mornings and welcome guests to join them.
On the men’s side, former longtime Port Angeles High School golf coach Mark Mitrovitch triumphed by four strokes over another excellent player and a good golfing buddy in Peninsula’s Gary Thorne for the club’s gross championship.
Mitrovitch fired a two-day total of 2-under-par 142 to repeat as champion. He edged out Thorne by one stroke (138-139) last year.
Jered Pomery posted a 140 to win Peninsula’s First Flight Net title, three strokes clear of second-place Tim Lusk and Mark Leffers.
Jay McIlwain (164) and Gary Valencia (131) won Second Flight Gross and Net titles, respectively.
And Carl Cadwell (gross 174) and Mike Robinson (net 135) were the Third Flight champs.
Congratulations to all of the winners.
Teammates advance
Sequim’s Alex McMenamin and Sarah Shea advanced to the First Flight Match Play Quarterfinals at the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship at Sandpines Golf Links in Florence, Ore.
McMenamin, a recent Sequim High School graduate and four-time All-Peninsula Girls Golf MVP, shot rounds of 82 and 83 to finish 17th after two rounds of stroke play.
The top 16 golfers qualified for Championship Flight match play, while the next eight finishers moved on to match play in the First Flight.
Shea, a rising senior at Sequim, rebounded from a first-round 89 to shoot 79 on Tuesday.
McMenamin and Shea will play in the same foursome today. McMenamin will face Richland’s Macy Robertson and Shea goes against Lacey’s Claire Moon in quarterfinal action at 11:50 a.m. today.
Demo days set
A pair of demo days are set next week, one running from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23 at Cedars at Dungeness and a Ping Golf demo from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24 at Peninsula Golf Club.
Representatives of Callaway, Cleveland/Srixon, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist will be on-hand at Dungeness. Attendees also can enjoy free hot dogs at that event.
Walk-ins are welcome at the Ping demo at Peninsula, but appointments are available by calling 360-457-6501.
Disco Bay update
Discovery Bay Golf Club head pro Jeff Kent checked in with information on the club’s Golf League.
Kent said that the Cape Beer team claimed the second half league title. Team members are Neil Lupkes, Greg Rutz, Lew Bell, Mike Field, Paul Hager, Walt Hill, Tone Madsen and Galen Peterson.
Shold Excavating finished second and The Edensaw (Lumber) Woodies took third.
League play wrapped with a barbecue, a horse race and KP competitions last Thursday.
Discovery Bay’s Randy White teamed with Rob Miller to win the horse race, while Kent and Justin Mason were second and Greg Miller and Jon Voelker came in third.
“I want to thank everyone that participated in league this year,” Kent said. “I personally had a blast, and I think everyone else did as well, and I’m looking forward to next year.”
Kent said the golf group also had fun participating in the horse race and have plans to keep things going on Thursday evenings.
“Since everyone had so much fun in the horse race, we have decided to run a two-person Horse Race every Thursday at 5 p.m. starting Aug. 24.
Kent said that the horse race has a $10 buy-in and the club will blind draw teams each week. The events are open to all players, including those that didn’t play in the club’s league. Players should sign up to play in the weekly events by 4:45 p.m. each Thursday.
Sweet 16th hole
Discovery Bay has been a prime spot for aces lately, particularly the 16th hole.
Daniel McShane holed out on the 187-yard par-3 16th hole with a 6-iron.
Sheila Kilmer used a 4-hybrid to ace the 16th hole while playing it from a more forward teebox set at 127 yards.
Don Rogers picked up the course’s third hole-in-one in recent weeks, nocking a 5-wood shot into the hole from 164-yards away on No. 16.
That little shot of rain the Peninsula received last week only helped improve the conditions for our area courses. Kent raved about the Port Townsend-area course, so why not head out for a round?
“The playing conditions are absolutely fantastic right now,” Kent said. “And we are running a special through Aug. 20. Play 18 holes at full price between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. and receive a voucher for 18 holes in September.
September should be gorgeous too, so this is a nice two-for-one deal.
Ludlow deal
Port Ludlow has some August-long specials for players.
A round of golf with GPS cart and range balls is $59 for the entire month.
And there’s a super twilight special after 3 p.m. each day. Walkers can play the course for a cool $20, and a round and use of a cart is $29.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
