SOME NORTH OLYMPIC Peninsula-raised college students spend their summers waiting tables, taking ticket stubs or employed in some other aspect of the service industry.
All in an attempt to raise some cash to keep a roof raised over their heads during the ensuing quarters or semesters.
And then there is 2008 Crescent High School grad Tommy Farris Jr.
Farris, soon to be a junior at the University of Washington, passed the time as an operations intern for the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic golf tournament at TPC Snoqualmie.
He was joined in the office by five full-time employees and another intern.
A primary duty for Farris involved managing the event’s Expo Village, a marketing promotion where the advertising displays of more than 20 tournament vendors were located.
A tournament week duty included helping pro-am title sponsor Korean Air display its new first-class airline seat, a seven-foot long, 1,200-pound behemoth, by “timing truck arrivals, organizing forklift operations, and even some socket wrench work.”
This was just one of the myriad of “fires” Farris put out during his summer.
For most of the summer, he and the event staff worked full-time in their offices on the suite level of Qwest Field.
A week before the tourney, the staff began to work at the course from just before dawn until dark, and eventually moved into houses in Snoqualmie on the Sunday before play began.
“Throughout these weeks, the Boeing Classic became all of our lives, as our team came together and put forth a great effort to run a successful tournament,” Farris said.
Farris enjoyed some solid perks during his time, including an all-access pass that allowed him inside-the-ropes access during play, eating at the player dining hall and mingling in some of the sweet hospitality suites.
He was also able to meet some of the Seattle business establishment during tournament committee meetings at Washington Athletic Club and during the tournament.
His best experience from the summer came near the 18th green during the tournament’s trophy presentation.
“With the tournament committee on the green to applaud [Bernhard] Langer for his outstanding performance, I was able to reconnect with former Seahawks and Sounders CEO Tod Leiweke,” Farris said.
Farris had originally met Leiweke as a senior at Crescent, when he was a finalist at the Qwest Leadership Challenge, and was fortunate enough to interview him for his senior culminating project, “How to Obtain a Successful Career in Sport Management.”
Farris later job shadowed Leiweke at a Seahawks preseason game and has stayed in touch with him over the last few years.
He hopes to one day become an MLB general manager, and plans to attempt to find a position with a major league team’s finance department or as a player agent after he is done with school.
With a 3.83 grade point average in accounting at UW’s Foster School of Business, and internships with the Seattle Mariners (2009) and the Boeing Classic, Farris has a very bright future ahead of him.
DECA Scramble set
The Port Angeles High School DECA club, a group for students with interests in business and marketing, will host its second SkyRidge/DECA Golf Scramble at SkyRidge Golf Course in Sequim at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25.
Tourney fees are $200 for a four-person team or $50 for an individual.
Port Angeles High School students can help out their peers and play for $20 per person.
Lunch will be provided along with prizes.
Mulligans will be available for $2.
For more information, phone SkyRidge at 360-683-3673, Hayley Pearce at 360-809-0978 or Corbin Brabant at 360-670-8097.
Scramble on Saturday
SkyRidge will hold a three-person scramble tournament on Saturday.
Fees are $120 per three-person team.
This includes green fees, lunch, kp’s and a team long-putt competition.
The fun gets underway at 9 a.m. for the first 22 teams that sign up.
All tournament participants will be entered in a drawing for a three-day, two-night stay in Las Vegas with a two-for-one flight coupon.
Call SkyRidge at 360-683-3673 or stop by the course to get in the game.
Red, White and Blue
The Peninsula Lady Niners held their annual Red, White and Blue Invitational 9-hole tournament on Sept. 8 under sunny skies at Peninsula Golf Club.
Fifty-six ladies from Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course in Sequim, Discovery Bay Golf Club in Port Townsend, Port Townsend Golf Club, SunLand Golf & Country Club in Sequim, Port Ludlow Golf Club and Peninsula Golf Club in Port Angeles enjoyed the game of Four Plus.
Each team of four totaled its net four scores plus a net best ball score.
The game was followed by lunch in the Peninsula Club House, and awarding of prizes for winning teams, special hole prizes and door prizes.
This tournament was the final 9-hole invitational for the above clubs for the 2010 summer season.
The ladies look forward to starting the 2011 rotation of tournaments again in June.
The winners were Betty Gastfield, Port Townsend; Joan Hartnett, SunLand; Naomi Marcus, Port Townsend; and Boots Reidel, Peninsula.
Finishing second were Denyse Tonan, Port Townsend; Donna Willenberg, Peninsula; Vivian Chapin, Port Townsend; and Lee Stanley, Dungeness.
Discovery Bay
Discovery Bay Golf Club will hold its final summer mixer of the season at 4 p.m. Friday.
Foursomes compete over nine holes with an informal gathering on the deck after play.
Players can compile their own groups or phone the club to be placed.
Men’s Club members will compete for their championship Saturday and Sunday.
Tee times are 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Roy Sutherland recently knocked off Rich Boyd to claim the club’s match-play championship.
Night golf will return to Discovery Bay on Oct. 22.
For more information on any of these events, phone the clubhouse at 360-385-0704.
Port Townsend Golf Course
Port Townsend held its 36-hole stroke play men’s club championship last weekend.
The course was set up for scoring on day one but pin placements were at their most difficult, and players teed it up from the tips to keep things tough.
Assistant pro Gabriel Tonan came out on top in the gross division, besting Hazli Kastikapes by two strokes.
Fred Heywood took top honors in the net division.
Driving in the Dark
The Port Townsend Sunrise Rotary Club is holding its fifth annual “Driving in the Dark” golf tournament on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Port Townsend Golf Club.
Registration starts at 3 p.m., and the tournament begins at 4:30 p.m.
Dinner will be served at the clubhouse between the two rounds with the second nine holes played at dusk and after dark.
The tourney was scheduled to coincide with the full moon, so if the weather cooperates there will be moon light as well as glow sticks to mark the course and the holes.
There are several changes to the format this year.
A putting contest will be held at registration, with $100 going to the golfer with the closest putt.
Every golfer gets two putts with their entry fee, but additional putts can be purchased.
If more than one golfer sinks their putt, the cash prize will be split among the winners.
The $10,000 hole-in-one prize will be a little easier to win, as the golfers will be playing for it on a different hole with a little shorter distance than in the past.
Mulligans are available for purchase for tournament play, but not for use on the hole-in-one prize.
The tournament itself has cash prizes, $500 for first place, $300 for second place and $200 for third place in a scramble format.
There are also some exceptionally nice raffle prizes available — many gift certificates donated from around Port Townsend, wine from Fairwinds Winery, and lots of golf gear from Port Townsend Golf Club.
Every golfer has two raffle tickets included with their entrance fee, but more may be purchased at the event.
In past years the tourney has raised between $4,000 and $6,000 to contribute toward Rotary’s worldwide polio eradication effort, shelter boxes to send to areas with natural disasters, and the club gives illustrated dictionaries to third graders in Jefferson County.
This year, Port Townsend Sunrise Rotary has partnered with the East Jefferson Rotary Club in a service project in Riobamba, Ecuador.
They are working with the Rotary and Rotaract clubs in Riobamba to build public restrooms with flushing toilets and hand washing stations in seven rural communities, outside schools and community centers.
These areas currently lack proper facilities, so this is a big step forward for these folks.
For more information, or to register for the tournament or as a sponsor, phone Curtis Stacey at 360-302-0979 or stop in at the Port Townsend Clubhouse.
________
Michael Carman is the golf columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. He can be reached at 360-417-3527 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.