Short Game

When Fred Couples shows up at Augusta National for the Masters tournament every April his chronic back doesn’t flare up, his swing is timeless, and it seems his ball flies higher and farther than players 30 and 40 years younger — some of whom he can still beat.

“Fred has a special relationship with Augusta National,” says Rick Fehr, a Seattle golfing icon who, three years younger, was once Boom Boom’s teenage rival. “He defies his age when he shows up there.

“His high degree of talent, his creativity, and a magical short game matches up well with Augusta. We’re just used to seeing his name above the cut line, that’s for sure.”

It has happened 31 times in his 38 appearances at the Masters. That includes this year when he became the oldest golfer ever to make the cut at 63 years, 187 days (the old record was set by Bernhard Langer in 2020 at 63 years, 80 days). Couples also holds the record — with Gary Player — for the most consecutive cuts made at 23. Tiger Woods tied them this year.

Couples, a 15-time PGA Tour winner, has 11 top 10 Masters finishes, including a victory in 1992, vital to his election into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. His victo- ry essentially was won fortuitously on the iconic par 3 12th hole in which his drive appeared destined for Rae’s Creek but inexplicably stayed dry. The slope below the hole is so steep that short drives almost always find the water. But his ball held up in the wet grass, one foot from the muck.

“How it stayed up is a miracle,” Couples said later. “And so is winning the Masters.”

He would wedge the ball over the slope to within 18 inches to get his par. He went on to win by two shots over Raymond Floyd, who was 50 then, yet still somehow competitive. Thirty-one years later, it’s Couples who remains competitive. (Note that Rory McIIroy, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau, who can hit a drive into tomorrow, all missed the cut).

“It was not a surprise to see him play well there and extend his streak,” Fehr added.

Couples has had other significant achievements. He won the 1985 and ‘96 Players Championship and was a two-time PGA Tour Player of the Year. He won three times in Europe, 24 other times around the world, played on five Ryder Cup teams, and competed and captained (combined) in seven President’s Cups. His 161 top 10s rank among the elite of all time.

But there’s one tournament he said he wants most of all before his competitive spirit fades — the Champions Tour Boeing Classic in his hometown. If his back allows and he’s feeling competitive, it’s expected that Boom Boom will tee it up at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge Aug. 11-13.

It was yet another great trip down to The Home Course for the Cascade Golfer Cup Season Opener on April 29. Although the sun was shining on the entire field, it was the teams of Mark Jones/Mark Anderson and Ben Willetts/ Peter Bennett that shined the brightest, winning the Net and Gross Divisions respectively.

Willetts shot an incredible 68 on this own ball, including a string of four straight birdies on holes eight through 11. With their wins both teams won a golf package to Maui courtesy of Ka’anapali Golf Resort and Hyatt Regency Maui. The event was also highlighted by a hole-in-one from Lucas Jones on the 12th hole from 169 yards.

Up next are events at two Northwest favorites, with a two-person shamble at White Horse June 10 and two-person best ball at Port Ludlow July 8. These two tracks have been some of the best conditioned courses over the past few years and are always a great test of brain versus brawn.

If you can outlast the rest of the field, we are sending four players from White Horse to Bandon Dunes while the Port Ludlow winners are off to Central Oregon. Yes, you read that correctly — Bandon Dunes. The top 10 of the Net and Gross Divisions all prize out.

In addition to sending folks to Bandon, Maui, Central Oregon, Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst and several other destinations this year, CG Cup events also hand out all sorts of other great loot.

This includes drivers, wedges, putters, rangefinders, watches, pull carts, bags and, of course, a ridiculous amount of great golf. We’re awarding twosomes and foursomes to: Gamble Sands, Chambers Bay, Suncadia, Salish Cliffs, White Horse, Apple Tree, Home Course, Loomis Trail, Port Ludlow, Cedars at Dungeness, The Classic, Oakbrook and many more. The list is long.

The Cup continues Aug. 12 at Oakbrook with an aggregate Stableford, followed by another two-person best ball, Sept. 9 at The Classic. The season concludes with our annual pilgrimage to Chambers Bay, with the Fall Classic Sept. 30. You don’t want to miss this event.

In addition to prizing out each event, the CG Cup is also a season points race, so there are prizes for the top 10 teams in Gross and Net on the season. Plus, you are allowed to have an alternate, so when you have a conflict and your buddy still wants to grab a partner and play, no problem. Consider it a three-person team for the season. It is never too late to get involved. Play in one, play in them all. Have fun either way. You will, we promise.

Get a partner and a handicap and we might be talking about you next issue. Check it out at CascadeGolfer.com/ Cup for details and upcoming tournament dates.

It was apparent entering this season that the UW men’s golf team was going to be challenged. The Huskies had much to defend, including the 2022 Pac-12 Conference title, and had to do it without three key contributors from a year ago.

The Huskies graduated Patrick Wu, R.J. Manke, a fifthyear senior transfer who had been part of Pepperdine’s 2021 NCAA title, and Noah Woolsey, who sank the winning putt to give the Huskies their Pac-12 crown. It was the school’s first men’s golf title since 2010 and seventh overall (beginning in 1958).

The season’s leadership roles fell to seniors Petr Hruby and Bo Peng. Hruby, from the Czech Republic, had a high point March 7 when he took medalist honors at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic by three strokes with a 12-under 204 score. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Week. Peng, from China, had his best effort April 1, third place at the Goodwin Tournament at TPC Harding Park.

But the Huskies couldn’t pull together the overall depth to compete for titles, as third place at Lamkin was the season’s highest finish.

The Huskies entered the Pac-12 Championship April 28-30 at Stanford as the defending champions and were tied for first place entering the final day. They finished fifth overall. Peng led the Huskies with a sixth-place finish.

The NCAA Regionals were May 15-17 — see GoHuskies.com for details.

The UW women’s golf team also had two returning seniors, Brittany Kwon from Bremerton, and Winnie Ng from Malaysia. Much like the men, the Husky women have not had the overall strength and experience to be as competitive as season’s past.

The Huskies did win the Causeway Invitational Feb. 28 in Sacramento, as three Huskies finished in the top 10: Camille Boyd (T2), Kennedy Knox (T5) and Stefanie Deng (T8).

Deng was the Huskies best finisher April 17-19 at the Pac-12 Championships in Phoenix. She shot a threeround 1-under par 215 to finish 11th. The Huskies placed ninth overall.

Deng and Boyd both qualified for the NCAA Regional at Palouse Ridge May 8-10.

f you love saving money and playing golf in Washington and Oregon, you won’t want to leave home without this.

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Whether you live in Seattle, Snohomish County or hang in the South Sound, there’s tons of options for you. Plus, if you love to hit the road, we have 18 tracks on the peninsula or across the passes to central and eastern Washington. Road trip after road trip can be made by flipping through the 120 pages of savings.

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You can’t buy a ticket yet or even circle a definite date on your calendar, but the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is coming to Seattle next summer and host club Sahalee, together with the PGA of America, has some major plans.

One of the LPGA Tour’s five major championships, the KPMG last visited the region in 2016 when an 18-yearold Brooke Henderson won her first major. Next year’s dates aren’t yet known, but the tournament is usually held in the third week of June which would put it around the week of June 17.

“We’ll be launching ticket sales after Labor Day,” says Jackie Endsley, the PGA of America’s championship director. “They’ll be available on our website KPMGwomenspga.com.”

The tournament was first held in 1955 as the LPGA Championship. The PGA of America took over the event in 2015. Sahalee, with its rare ability and fervent desire to host major events, stepped forward for the 2016 tournament and hosted a doozy with Henderson shooting a final round 65 and beating Lydia Ko on the first extra hole after both golfers had completed 72 holes at six-under-par 278.

This will be the first time the event will be held for a second time by the same club. The Sammamish, Wash., course opened in 1969 and was designed by Ted Robinson with a renovation by Rees Jones in 1996.

There are 27 holes with the North and South nines used for the tournament. The East course, meanwhile, is used for parking, media, merchandise, and sponsor hospitality along with the popular Women’s Summit.

Among those expected to compete, besides Henderson and Ko, are the talented Korda sisters, Nelly and Jessica. Nelly, now 24, was an up-and-coming junior golfer when Sahalee first hosted the event. She turned professional in 2017 and now has eight wins on the LPGA Tour including victory in this event in 2021, the year she also won Gold at the Olympic Games in Japan. Jessica, 30, has won six times and, like her sister, has finished in the top-10 50 times.

Sahalee has just completed a $2.5 million bunker renovation project and plans to remove some trees and expand the tees following next year’s KPMG.

This year’s tournament will be held at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. June 22-25 with a purse of $9 million — up from $4.5 million just two years ago.

If you want colorful and someone with iconic moves and an unconventional swing, then make your way out to The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge Aug. 7-13, for the Boeing Classic and the 18th edition of the hugely popular Champions Tour event.

Miguel Angel Jiménez, the free-spirited 58-year-old Spaniard with the distinctive man bun and 56-ring Cuban cigar, will likely return to defend the title he won last year shooting a five-under 67 in the final round to beat David McKenzie by two strokes and celebrating with an abbreviated flamenco. It was Jiménez’s 13th Champions victory following a 21-win career on the European Tour (now the DP World Tour).

The 81-player Boeing field will not be official until the week before the event, but there are two other compelling players expected in the field. One is the antithesis of Jiménez — indefatigable German Bernhard Langer.

Now 65 years of age, Langer has been a relentless force on the Champions Tour for 15 years. He just doesn’t seem to fade. Entering this season, the two-time Masters champion had 45 wins on the over-50s tour, tied with Hale Irwin for the most all-time.

It’s likely that Langer, who has won the Boeing Classic twice (2010, 2016) will break the record before he gets here, but his overall numbers are hard to believe — he has won six Charles Schwab Cups, nine player-of-theyear awards, 11 money list titles, and 11 Champions Tour majors. He has had 10 multi-win seasons, 12 wins after turning 60, and four more since turning 64. He also has shot his age eight times in competition.

The other compelling golfer expected to tee it up is, of course, popular Seattle native Fred Couples, who’ll arrive with an enhanced resume having become the oldest player ever to make the cut at the Masters — 63 years, 187 days. He beat the old record — set by Langer in 2020 — by 107 days.

The 1992 Masters champion finished 50th in April while players such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson didn’t even make it to the weekend.

Of course, Couples has never won the Boeing Classic, but he would dearly love to don the winner’s bomber jacket. He has finished third four times (2010, ’13, ’15, ’19) and had a five-shot lead entering the final round in 2019 before falling back.

Over the years, Couples and Langer have had one final-round battle — in 2015, but Billy Andrade pushed past both players for a one-shot victory. How great it would be to see these legends slug it out again.

Go to BoeingClassic.com for details and tickets.

At a glance, not much has changed at Lakeland Village Golf Course — still 27 holes of quality golf in a setting of rural sophistication.

Take a longer look, and a regular visitor notices the results of work this year and last to enhance the overall golf experience.

Lakeland Village occupies a niche in northeastern Mason County, a few hundred yards west of Highway 3 in the town of Allyn, well-situated in a swath of good public courses north, south and west in Mason and south Kitsap County.

So, what’s new around here?

Head PGA Professional Tyson Odden is happy to point out Lakeland’s new floating driving range with floating balls, the short-game practice area and the new indoor golf simulator.

For the golf course itself, it’s mostly an adjustment in terminology. The former Lakeland nines were known as Generation I, Generation II and Generation III. Now, we have the 18-hole Ranch Course at Lakeland Village, formed by combining Generations II and III, which has always been a common configuration here.

Generation I is newly christened as an executive course, shorter in length than its sister nines, and called — wait for it — Generation I.

The quality and affordability of Lakeland Village hasn’t changed. The Ranch Course (6,471 yards from the blue tees) has a top rate of $50 on weekends, $38 Monday through Friday, with twilight rates set at $24 and $20.

Generation I (2,589 yards, par 35) is the best value on the property — 18 bucks anytime.

When people talk about Lakeland, they talk about the greens.

“The number one thing I hear day in, and day out is how good our greens are and how challenging they are, both with speed and the overall design and slope,”

Odden said. “We think we’ve got some of the best greens in the state.”

For good ball-strikers, Lakeland offers challenges often unforeseen. They note the yardage and course ratings and expect Lakeland to be easy to attack.

“It’s actually very challenging,” Odden said, “but it’s fair, and people do really enjoy it.”

Some things don’t need to change. Learn more at www.lakelandvillagegc.com.

If there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear since Duke’s Seafood began awarding its Junior Golf Scholarship in 2015, it’s that the nominees’ ability to play the game is only a part of what John Moscrip looks at when deciding the winner.

“Playing the game at a high level is certainly important and part of our selection criteria,” says Duke’s COO who conceived the idea for the scholarship. “But integrity and a focus on sportsmanship, well-roundedness and attitude are at the top of the list.”

That’s not to say the most recent winner(s) — the girls’ team at Inglemoor High School in Kenmore — aren’t good golfers. The team had a solid spring season with one team member, Jewel Malmoe, cutting her average nine-hole score by 15 strokes. Sophomore Kandyce Diep had several strong finishes and is a regular at Washington Junior Golf Association (WJGA) events.

Rather than highlighting her team’s good play in 2023, Coach Teresa McCausland spoke of camaraderie, leadership, teamwork, application and fun when asked to comment on her players who, collectively, won the WIAA Academic Award for the Outstanding Scholastic Team with a 3.58 GPA.

“They bond over their experiences together,” McCausland adds. “And they choose to ride in the team van together when they don’t have to.” And while it isn’t at all surprising to hear these teammates encourage each other, it does come as something of an eye-opener to learn they root for their opponents, too, offering praise for good shots and solace when anyone struggles.

“Other teams recognize and appreciate this,” says McCausland. “Which is why the team won the King County Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by players in the conference.”

It was Mindie Wirth, mother of team member Lauren Wirth, who contacted us late last year to nominate her daughter’s team and comment on the example co-coaches McCausland and Matt Coglon had set. “I’m so grateful my daughter has been able to learn from them,” she says. “They’ve been a wonderful influence. And, in addition to cheering for their opponents — something you have to see to believe, the girls have also handled some unsportsmanlike behavior and opponent’s rule violations with grace and dignity.”

Graceful, dignified, hard-working, encouraging, and devoted to golf — now that’s a Duke’s Scholarship winner.

For several years, the story you read about the Cedars at Dungeness centered on how dry the course was because of what little rain the surrounding area received — 17 inches per year or roughly half what Seattle, just 75 miles away, endures.

There was also ‘Old Crabby’, the crab-shaped bunker guarding the 3rd green, of course, but it was the Olympic Mountain rain-shadow that got most of the ink.

This year, however, the story may change. No, the rain-shadow’s not going anywhere, and the course will remain one of the driest courses in western Washington. But 2023 is going to see some major changes to the layout whose first nine holes opened in 1969 (the second nine followed a year later) and which the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, whose 7 Cedars Casino is located 12 miles southeast of the course, purchased in January 2007.

The work scheduled to take place doesn’t constitute a full renovation by any means and it’s not like visitors won’t be able to recognize the course they’ve enjoyed for years, but some necessary changes recently have been completed and more are coming.

The pond on the 8th hole is currently being deepened to give four weeks’ worth of reserve water, and an area adjacent to the pond has been identified as the site for a new green coming in five to eight years’ time, says the course’s Director of Golf, Chad Wagner. “The ninth tee has been rebuilt on one level with a retaining wall,” he adds. “The 11th tee has been flattened and reseeded, and a new pump house is being built.”

These improvements will certainly enhance the playing experience, but they pale in comparison to the importance of what’s coming in October. “What’s going on now is in preparation for the installation of a new irrigation system,” says Wagner. “It’ll be a game-changer, allowing us to target certain areas of the course and control exactly how much water those areas receive. That means we can avoid dry spots, and help the turf maintain a nice, consistent color year-round.”

It’s a busy time for the Tribe. In addition to what’s going on at the golf course, it opened a $33 million, 100-room hotel adjacent to the casino in August 2020. More additions to the hotel are in the pipeline. Visit 7Cedars.com for current information and offers.