Rain doesn’t dampen Pac Am

Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 25, 2014

Meg Roussos / The BulletinRandy Ando holds an umbrella while Lanfranco Vaccari putts at the ninth hole during the Pacific Amateur at Lost Tracks Golf course in Bend on Wednesday.

SISTERS — Tom Bryan was loading up his car nearly an hour before the rest of the golfers playing at Aspen Lakes Golf Course.

Rain was pouring, as it did for much of Wednesday around Central Oregon. But the 81-year-old from the Seattle area was certainly not going to be chased off by a little precipitation.

Instead, his reason for packing up early was more typical for a golfer: he was fed up with his golf game.

“It’s not going to do me any good to finish,” said Bryan, one of more than 400 players in this year’s Pacific Amateur Golf Classic.

As for the rain, the 12-year veteran of the Pac Am said he has come to expect the occasional wet and wild day.

“We haven’t had many of these days, but I’ll tell you, we had one (a few years ago) with sleet and rain and everything else,” Bryan said. “We used to play in October, so we were expecting some real different temperatures.”

It seems like it is an unwritten rule that at least one of the first three rounds of the Pac Am, which is in its 18th year, must be played in some version of less-than-ideal Central Oregon weather.

This year it came on Wednesday’s third round, the final round for all but the top four players in each flight. Rain had Pac Am golfers reaching for an umbrella and head-to-toe waterproof clothing.

But for Jerry Close, a 53-year-old from Moses Lake, Washington, a little rain was no bother.

“Wonderful, actually,” Close replied when asked how his day went. “The forecast was for heavy rains, and it really wasn’t that bad, I didn’t think.”

Then Close — who had just shot a 5-over-par 77 from the 7,300-yard tips at Aspen Lakes to qualify for the championship round today in Sunriver — sat back and laughed.

“But I played well, too,” he added. “That probably makes a big difference.”

It most certainly can.

Mike Quartero, a 70-year-old from Antioch, California, said two of his playing partners quit their rounds before finishing. And he joined up with another player whose partners had stopped short of 18 holes.

Quartero, who is playing in his second Pac Am, could only assume players were pulling out because of a combination of rain and poor play.

Not him. He finished his round with a 77-over 149 and still walked off the course in a mood that would suggest a score much lower.

“I had more fun than anybody on this golf course today,” he said while pointing to his scorecard. “But I did have a par.

“I came prepared (for the rain). It’s golf.”

Tanner Bown, a 30-year-old from Las Vegas, agreed that playing in the rain was part of the game.

Bown works for the Southern Nevada Golf Association and is playing in the Pac Am to scout out the tournament for ideas for his association’s Las Vegas World Amateur, a handicapped golf tournament not unlike the Pac Am.

He said the weather would be a silly reason to give up in the Pac Am.

“The first two days were fantastic up here,” Bown said. “People should realize that (it could rain), and no matter what, you still have to get the ball into the hole.”

Close is in his fifth year playing in the Pac Am, so he knows well “the hard part” of playing in the Pac Am can be packing for every conceivable weather occasion, he said.

Considering the potential weather variations, why keep coming back with an entry fee of more than $500 per year?

Close says that the appeal of the Pac Am goes far beyond the day’s weather.

“Weatherwise, you have to accept that,” Close said. “As far as the cost goes, you get a lot of return for your money.”

That includes generous gift packages and dinners, he said, and one more distinctive perk: a chance to shoot 77 at Aspen Lakes to qualify for the championship round at Crosswater Club, one of the nation’s most heralded golf courses.

Concluded Close with a smile: “So really, the return on the entry fee is not bad.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.

Marketplace