Erase the final hole of the Gallery Golf Course and the scenario may have been a little different for Oak Harbor golfer Drew Bashor after the second round of the 4A Northwest District tournament Tuesday afternoon.

“I was playing good all day until I got to the 18th hole,” he said.

Shooting a 74 through the first 17 holes of the par 72 course, Bashor was sitting in a prime spot to finish in the top 14 and make the state tournament cut. Unfortunately an eight on the final hole forced him into 15th place and a sudden death playoff situation with four other golfers. Whoever won the playoff would was guaranteed a trip to the state tournament as an alternate.

It didn’t take long for Bashor to recover from his struggle on hole 18, as he stepped up with ease, facing the challenge of sudden death play. Starting back at hole number one, Bashor and Jackson’s Troy Koontz were the only two of the five remaining golfers to score birdies on the par four. Bashor then secured his first ever trip to the state tournament by gathering par on hole number two.

Although he would have liked to have been guaranteed a spot to play in the state tournament Bashor is still happy he gets to go as an alternate.

“Yeah, I’m excited,” he said.

After shooting a 77 in the first round of the tournament at Sudden Valley Golf Course in Bellingham, he ended day two with a score of 82, making a two day total of 159.

“Drew put himself in contention with a 77 on the first day,” head coach John Matzen said. “He is being recognized by the other golfers as someone to contend with next year.”

Bashor will travel to the state tournament May 28-29 held at the Canyon Lakes Golf Course in the Tri-Cities where he will wait and see if he gets to play. He has also earned honors to play in the Washington National Championship beginning today, May 24 at the Washington National Golf Course in Seattle. Bashor will be one of over 30 golfers from around the state who get to compete in the event.

The only other Oak Harbor golfer who earned the right to play on day two of the district tournament was Chris Reedy. Reedy finished the tournament in 37th place with two day scores of 86 and 85.

The two Wildcat golfers helped Oak Harbor finish 10th out of 16 teams with a combined point total of 28.

Snohomish edged out Jackson by a half point to win the team title with 109.5 points, while Marysville-Pilchuck’s Dom VanDaveer shot 3-under-par 69 to win the district championship. VanDaveer finished with a two day total of 145 to receive the lowest score.

Overall Matzen is happy with the performance of his golfers in 2003 and looks forward to what they can do next year.

“Our season has gone as expected with a few exceptions,” he said. “We have a very competitive group of kids and I am sure that they will be working hard in the off-season preparing for another good run at the league championship.”