Whidbey plays its own Masters

While golf great Tiger Woods was on his way to a second straight victory in professional golf’s most prestigious tournament, members of the Whidbey Golf & Country Club had a touch of their own Masters on Sunday.

Twelve four-member teams competed in Whidbey’s own version of the Masters on Sunday morning as the real event was wrapping up in Augusta, Georgia. The quartet of Leroy Rothe, Lois Rothe, Cheryl Beeksma, and Ed Beeksma came out on top in flight three and won the overall competition with a net score of 82, lowest in the field to win the inaugural Celebrate the Masters tourney.

“We’ve never had anything like this up here before,” said Whidbey head pro Mike Fields. “I think everyone had a great time.”

The former pro at Alderbrook G&C near Shelton, WA, Fields moved up to Whidbey in January, taking over from longtime pro Chuck West. The tourney was one of the ideas that Fields brought with him.

“I wanted to do something special for the members on the day of the Masters,” he said.”This was something that we did at my former club.”

In the tradition of the Masters, Fields and his crew set the course up as an 18-hole par-3 course. The real Masters holds a par-3 tournament on the Wednesday before the real event starts.

“The course as all par 3’s between 90 and 190 yards,” said Fields. “We had tee locations all over – over bunkers, over lakes. There was a blind shot going into hole 11.”

For scoring purposes, the two best scores from each foursome were taken on each hole.

Besides the team of Rothe, Rothe, Beeksma, and Beeksma, other winners included Dick Dugdale, Jim Sanden and Richard Wofford who won flight one with a total score of 95, and Bob Clay, Howard Cook, Bob J. Greathead, and Ray Rasmussen who won flight two with a 90.

After the tourney the field enjoyed a buffet lunch and the finish of the Masters on television. A pool was set up in which each foursome drew the name of golfer in the real tournament and their scores on the day were combined, with the winner’s receiving a tee prize.

Everything about the tourney turned out great except for one aspect that no one can control – the weather.

“We really had some fun with it,” said Fields. “The only drawback to the day was that it was extremely cold, but at least we didn’t get any rain.”

Celebrate the Masters

April 14 at Whidbey G&CC

Flight One:

Dick Dugdale, Jim Sanden, Richard Wofford: 95

Flight Two:

Bob Clay, Howard Cook, Bob J. Greathead, Ray Rasmussen: 90

Flight Three :

Leroy Rothe, Lois Rothe, Cheryl Beeksma, Ed Beeksma: 82

KP Winners:

Bill Boltz, Vicky Boltz, Carol Stone, Chuck Stone: 5-feet-11