Pressure’s on when defending title
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 23, 2001
By Rich Myhre
Herald Writer
Anyone who has played competitive golf knows that nervousness is part of the game. Even seasoned tournament players can experience knocking knees as they step to the first tee.
And if you happen to be the event’s defending champion, the symptoms might be even more severe.
Just ask Alex Stamey, who rallied in the final round of last year’s Snohomish County Amateur golf tournament for an improbable victory. The task of winning in 2001 will be that much tougher, Stamey said, simply because of expectations.
"I’ve defended a couple of titles when I was back in California," said the 37-year-old Stamey, a native Californian, "and it’s a totally different feeling. You have the pressure of not having some horrible rounds and all of a sudden being an embarrassment as the defending champion.
"When you’re the defending champion, there’s a lot more pressure, no doubt about it," he said. "I’ll really be trying to do well again and hopefully not embarrass myself."
Stamey will join a field of more than 180 golfers, including four former winners, who will tee off Sunday in this year’s County Am. The three-round tournament — the second round is Monday and the final round June 3 — will bring together the best and brightest golfers from men’s clubs around Snohomish County, just as it has done for the past 70 years. For those who live here and love the game, the County Am is an annual rite of spring.
Already this week, Stamey has competed in the Washington Open, and he is preparing for the Washington Men’s Best-Ball Championship today and Friday. Both are prestigious state events, but that doesn’t mean they overshadow the County Am, he said.
"This is a very important tournament," said Stamey, who represents Harbour Pointe Golf Course. "It’s a local-pride tournament. Obviously you want to have the bragging rights for the next year that you get by winning the County Am.
"It’s a fun tournament and I look forward to it every year. And I was very excited to win it last year."
A year ago, Stamey trailed 1999 winner Todd Tibke of Snohomish by seven shots heading into the final round at Everett Golf and Country Club. Tibke’s victory seemed certain, though there never is anything certain in the County Am’s final round. Tibke saw his lead slowly dwindle on the tree-lined fairways at EG&CC until Stamey, who closed with a 4-under 68, had at last snatched his first County Am title by a single shot.
"Todd had such a big lead that I thought I was pretty much playing for second place," Stamey recalled. "The best-case scenario that I was hoping for was somehow to cut the lead after nine holes to four shots. When I made the turn, I was only down by three and at that point I knew I had a great chance.
"Todd obviously did not play very well and he handed me a lot of shots," he said. "But obviously it was a surprise victory."
Tibke, meanwhile, is back this year and will be trying to add to the titles he won in 1987, 1988 and 1999. He is one of four three-time County Am winners, and a victory in 2001 would lift him into a tie with four-time champion Jeff Knudson (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983), one win back of five-time champ Bob Whisman (1952, 1954, 1955, 1961, 1964).
Other former winners in the field are Mike Seek (1997, 1990), who represents Walter Hall Golf Course; and Jeff Strickland (1996), who plays out of Harbour Pointe.
Stamey has the low handicap of the field at +0.8. Others with top handicaps include Eric Polson (+0.6) and Max Hartung (+0.5), of Everett’s Legion Memorial Golf Course, and Tibke (+0.3) and Travis Stoddard (+0.2), both of Snohomish. Eleven other golfers have handicaps of 3.0 or better.
Not only is there quality in this year’s tournament, there is diversity — of ages. The field includes Jacob Koppenberg and Troy Koontz of Legion Memorial, and Harbour Pointe’s Jonathan Keane, all 14 years old. Also competing will be Nile Country club’s Pat Robb and Walter Hall’s Gunnar Bernhardsen. Both men are 72.
This year’s tournament will be contested at Marysville’s Cedarcrest Golf Course, Everett’s Walter Hall and EG&CC. The first division (for golfers with handicaps of 9.6 and lower), will play at Cedarcrest on Sunday, Walter Hall on Monday and EG&CC on June 3. The second division (for those with handicaps of 9.7 and up) will play at EG&CC on Sunday, Cedarcrest on Monday, and Walter Hall on June 3.
First tee times for Sunday and Monday are 6:30 a.m.
As always, the County Am is open to the public. There is no admission charge.
