HOPEFULLY, EVERYONE WITH a long, rectangular package under his or her Christmas tree opened it to find something exciting like a new driver or putter and not something useful but boring like a coat rack or a lamp.
Through the magic of the Internet, I saw that one of my college roommates received a nice Sun Mountain-Washington State Cougars golf bag. I was pleased.
We will likely be sitting near each other at Coug games this fall, so I was happy to have yet another reason to play Palouse Ridge, this one sanctioned by his sports-loving wife.
Part two of my 2011 golf year in review will follow after I attend to some pressing area golf matters.
New Year’s Eve event
Port Townsend Golf Club will host a blind draw Holiday Blues/New Year’s Eve Scramble at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Get in the game for $30 per player.
You can sign up in the clubhouse or phone the course at 360-385-4547.
Cedars tourney entries
Your 2012 calendar might be bare but Sequim’s Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course has two golf events ready for listing.
Cedars at Dungeness is accepting entries for upcoming tournaments in January and February.
The course will hold its New Year’s Invitational event on the first Saturday of 2012, Jan. 7.
A 9:30 a.m. shotgun start (barring frost) will lead to a two-person shamble on the front nine and a two-person best ball game on the back nine.
The event is $60 for non-members and $40 for Cedars members.
Greens fees include a boxed lunch, cart fees, range use, KPs and $1,500 in comp prizes (based on full field).
A $20 team honey pot for gross and net scores will be available.
The field is limited to 50 players, so get in the game before the holidays arrive in force and you forget.
Entry deadline is Jan. 4.
Cedars also will host its 19th annual Polar Bear Championship on Feb. 4-5.
This is a 36-hole stroke play format with three amateur divisions and one professional division.
Entry fees are $140 and include three rounds of golf (including a practice round on Friday), range balls on Saturday and Sunday, a tee prize and lunch on Sunday, and $5,500 in prizes (based on full field).
Amateurs must have USGA handicap of 27 or lower.
Carts are an extra $16 per day.
Entry deadline for this tourney is Monday, Jan. 30.
For more information, phone Cedars at 360-683-6344, ext. 1.
Midwinter Open event
SkyRidge Golf Course in Sequim will host its annual Midwinter Open Three-Person Scramble on Saturday, Jan. 14.
The tourney has a frost-free start at 9:30 a.m. and each team must have a total handicap index of 15 or higher.
Cost is $90 per team and includes 18 holes of golf, range balls, two KPs, a long putt and a late afternoon lunch.
Carts are $12 per seat with some heaters available for $10.
There’s also an optional $60 honey pot per team.
Call early, sign-ups are limited to 24 teams.
To register, phone SkyRidge at 360-683-3673.
Year in Review 2
Sid Krumpe shot rounds of 68, 71 and 74 to win the 2011 Clallam Amateur Championship in July.
He held off runner-up Gary Thorne and Chimacum High School alum Adam Barrows, who was third.
Dolly Burnett won the women’s title with rounds of 76, 79 and 85, followed by Rena Peabody.
In July, Darren Clarke became the third major winner from Northern Ireland to win in the past six major championships and the first over-40 winner of a major since Mark O’Meara at the Masters in 1998.
I’m sure many a pint was poured in the pubs after the popular Clarke claimed the Claret Jug but none had been sipped out of the championship trophy right after the win.
“I’m a little bit of a traditionalist,” Clarke said. “I feel a bit funny about putting stuff in the claret jug that shouldn’t be in there, so I’m a little bit more reserved as to what I should do. So there’s nothing in it as yet. That may not be the case as the week goes by.”
T.J. Durner claimed the inaugural 36-hole Jefferson County Amateur in August at Discovery Bay Golf Club of Port Townsend.
Durner fired a 165 total.
Bob Hicks and Brian Peterson tied for low-net honors with a 145.
Playing in his first major, Keegan Bradley bested Jason Dufner in a three-hole playoff for the PGA Championship.
The major victory basically assured Bradley, the nephew of World Golf Hall of Fame member and longtime LPGA Tour star Pat Bradley, the 2011 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Award.
During the summer I made the decision that I needed to shake things up and take a road trip.
A little more than 1,300 miles later I found myself in San Diego in September playing golf at Balboa Park Golf Course.
After a nice early morning round I watched my Cougs lose a football game by way of a major fourth-quarter Coug-it.
After another 1,300-plus miles on the trip back, I have convinced myself that airline flights are the way to go even if its expensive to pack your clubs.
In October, amateur players Gary Kettel and Sid Krumpe and pros Bill Shea and Jeff Lindsey of Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course in Sequim and Sequim’s SunLand Golf & Country Club members Brad Littlefield and Jay Tomlin, and pro Tyler Sweet all ventured down to compete in the 2011 ESPN National Golf Challenge at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort.
The United States team topped a team comprised of everybody but Europe in the 2011 Presidents Cup in November.
After struggling during the 2011 season, Jim Furyk won all five of his matches to help the Yanks to the Cup.
December saw the passing of the man who recorded the greatest round of golf of all time.
Yes, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong II, he of at least five holes in one and 38-under par during the first round he had ever played, died in December.
Kim routinely shot three or four holes-in-one per round, the North Korean government-controlled media reported.
“Imagine the schedule he kept,” Golf Channel Commentator and former pro Brandel Chamblee told the New York Times.
“Eight to 11 — enrich uranium. One to four — destroy the world. Four to seven — play golf, shoot 11 holes-in-one and call it a night. I don’t remember him popping up at the Masters.
“He should have tried to get his tour card.”
________
Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-417-3527 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.