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Next generation of elite golfers come to Bremerton
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Maybe the next Tiger Woods will be in Bremerton next week? There's at least a good chance that a dozen or so golfers competing in the NCAA Regionals at Gold Mountain Wednesday through Saturday will be on the PGA Tour over the next decade.
It's an opportunity to see the next generation of elite golfers when players from 27 teams, including the University of Washington, participate in the regional. And it's free. Anyone can drive over to Bremerton to watch it. Spectators can walk the same fairways as the players, keeping at least a 15-yard separation.
Just walking on that wonderful, tree-blessed course is a soul-enriching. I love Gold Mountain because it's all trees, grass and sand. There are no houses on the periphery that diminish the ambiance. You can descend in the hollow of, say, the par-3, 201-yard (251 yards for these guys!) and hear nothing but nature. An occasional chopping of a woodpecker in the distant forest. An erratic golf ball knocking against a fir tree.
Stop a moment to breath it in. No matter how well or bad you play, that'll be what you remember most when you replay your round.
But these college guys could care less. They won't notice anything but their next shot.
“The impression you will have is how many great players there are,'' UW golf coach Matt Thurmond told the media this week in advance of the regional. “I expect five or six players will play on a Ryder Cup team one day. Maybe 10 to 20 will be on the PGA Tour. This is a big time list of players.''
Among the future stars playing Gold Mountain's Olympic Course are: USC's Jamie Lovemark, the defending NCAA champion, UCLA's Kevin Chappell, the NCAA Player of the Year, UCLA's Erik Flores, Florida State's Jonas Blixt, Stanford's Sihwan Hie, Pepperdine's Andrea Putnam, who grew up in Tacoma, and Clemson's Kyle Spencer, the 2007 NCAA runnerup who grew up in Gig Harbor.
“My goal is see get myself in position with three or four holes to play,'' Spencer said in a conference call. “We'll see what happens. It didn't happen last year. Jamie (Lovemark) played great.''
Stanford, the No. 1 seed in the regional, is the defending team champion. The top 10 teams – plus the top two individuals not from an advancing team – move on to the NCAA championships at Purdue May 28-31, joining two other regionals.
“Saturday, the final day, is amazingly intense,'' Thurmond said. “You need to finish in the top 10 so those teams seven through 13 will be in a pressure-cooker and you'll feel it.''
There's a practice round Wednesday then they're off at 7 a.m. Thursday. The Huskies tee off No. 10 at 7 a.m. Thursday and at 12:12 p.m. Friday off No. 1.
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