County Am a family affair for Stricklands
Published 10:36 pm Sunday, May 24, 2009
MARYSVILLE — After turning in one of the more bizarre scorecards imaginable after the second round of the Snohomish County Amateur — more on that in a second — Mark Strickland was congratulated by his grandfather, Stan, who only a few minutes ago had completed his round.
The two then walked towards the 18th green at Cedarcrest Golf Course to watch Jeff Strickland, Mark’s father and Stan’s son, finish his round.
While it’s not unusual for multiple generations to play in the County Am through the years, what is happening this year is a first as far as anyone involved in the tournament can remember: three generations of Stricklands, Stan, Jeff and Mark, are all playing in the top flight of this year’s tournament.
And it gets better.
Thanks to his birdie, birdie finish, Jeff moved into a tie for fifth at 4-over par with, among others, his son Mark. They will play together in the second-to-last foursome during today’s final round.
“It’s kind of cool to see my kid doing so well,” said Jeff Strickland, who won the tournament in 1996. “He’s come a long way in a short time. Then to have my dad out here and make the first division, it’s pretty cool.”
Father and son both joked that they’ll have to put a little something extra on the outcome of today’s round to make it more interesting, though if Mark plays anything like he did Sunday, it’s hard to imagine he’ll need anything extra to spice things up.
Mark, a junior at Kamiak who will play in the state tournament starting Wednesday, opened his round with a triple bogey. He bounced back immediately, however, running off three straight birdies to get to even par.
“Bad holes like that give me more drive to do better,” he said.
Mark’s wild ride was nowhere near finished, as he rode a roller coaster of birdies and bogeys to a 1-under 69. He finished the round with nine birdies, five bogeys, three pars and the one triple bogey.
“It was a wild one,” he said. “I’ve never had one quite like that.”
