Bob Borup has been the head professional long enough to seem like family to most members at Everett Golf and Country Club.
Fittingly, Borup’s successor will also be one of EG&CC’s family.
Brent Webber, an Everett native and a former assistant pro at the club, has been named to replace Borup, who will retire on Sept. 30 after a 41-year career at EG&CC, including the last 28 years as head pro. Webber, who is currently an assistant pro at Seattle Golf Club, will start his new job on Oct. 1.
“I’m still smiling,” said the 41-year-old Webber, a 1981 graduate of Mariner High School. “And I’m still in shock a little bit, but I also know I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.”
Webber spent two years at Columbia Basin Community College in the early ’80s before returning to Everett and a job offer from Borup at EG&CC. Webber stayed for eight years, and then took subsequent jobs at Seattle’s Sand Point Country Club, Seattle’s Rainier Golf and Country Club, Seattle Golf Club, TPC Snoqualmie outside of North Bend, and a second stint at Seattle.
All were assistant pro jobs except TPC Snoqualmie, where he was the head pro under a director of golf.
“When I left Everett,” Webber said, “I knew that someday Bob was going to retire. And I knew when I worked there that it was where I really wanted to be. If the opportunity came up, I was going to make sure I put every effort into this.
“It’s a pretty unique situation where you do get a chance to come home,” he said. “So obviously this is very special for me.”
EG&CC is special to Webber for other reasons as well. It is actually where he met his future wife, the former Kathi Bergen, a 1989 graduate of Everett High School. They became acquainted when “she was doing some nanny work” by the swimming pool, Webber said.
The couple has two children – Jackson, age 6; and daughter Emma, age 4 – and expects to move from the Northgate area into Snohomish County in the coming months.
According to Paul Desilet, who was chairman of the EG&CC search committee and is also a board member, the club received approximately 40 applications through a June 17 deadline. The committee then whittled the field to 10 for interviews, determined three finalists for another round of interviews, and then did a third interview before settling on Webber.
“He came so prepared,” Desilet said of the interview process. “He was from top to bottom our final choice. The interview committee rated the final applicants and he rated No. 1 on everybody’s ballot. … He was so prepared, it was mind boggling.”
Of the three finalists, Webber was the only one with previous ties to EG&CC, Desilet said. “But from my perspective and I believe the rest of the panel also,” he went on, “we tried not to let that interfere with our decision at all. We wanted the strongest applicant to be our selection. … (Webber) was far and away the best person.”
Final approval of Webber was given by EG&CC’s nine-member board of directors.
Among those who expressed support for Webber were many members at Seattle Golf Club, which along with Everett is one of the oldest private golf clubs in Washington.
“The list of people who called and wrote letters from Seattle Golf Club saying we’d be nuts not to hire (Webber) was like a ‘Who’s Who’ of Seattle,” Desilet said. “It was unbelievable. He is held in a real high regard over there.”
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