Through seven holes of Sunday’s second round of the Snohomish County Amateur, Jake Koppenberg was 1 over par for the day, 2 over par for the tournament, and starting to wonder when something good was going to happen.
He didn’t have long to wait.
Koppenberg used the final 11 holes at Marysville’s Cedarcrest Golf Course to vault into the lead of the 78th-annual County Am, totaling six birdies and five pars in that stretch to finish with a 5-under 65 and a two-day total of 4-under 138.
He has a two-stroke margin over defending County Am champion and three-time winner Alex Stamey heading into today’s traditional final round at Everett Golf and Country Club.
“I got in a pretty good groove,” said the 21-year-old Koppenberg, who finished fifth in last year’s County Am. “I didn’t feel that I was in a zone, but I was just hitting it in the right spots.
“I was hitting fairways (off the tee), hitting greens (in regulation) and giving myself chances (for birdies). I hit a couple (of approach shots) really close, in the tap-in range, so that helped out.”
Koppenberg started his birdie binge with back-to-back 3s on the par-4 eighth and ninth holes. He followed with a birdie on No. 13, and then three in succession on the final three holes. One was a tee shot on the 180-yard, par-3 16th hole that ended up a foot from the cup.
“It was a clean back nine,” he said. “I was happy to finish that way.”
Koppenberg is coming off a stellar junior season at Western Washington University, where he was an NCAA Division II second-team All-American and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He also posted a school-record 71.3 scoring average and set another WWU mark with a 10-under par 62 in the final round at the Grand Canyon Invitational in October.
“All in all, it was successful for my first year,” said Koppenberg, who transferred to WWU after two years at Idaho.
Koppenberg’s nearest rival today will be Stamey, who is trying to become only the fourth golfer in County Am history with four titles. Both men are members at EG&CC.
“I’ve played there so many times, and I know where to hit it and where not to hit it,” Koppenberg said. “I know how to read the greens and stuff like that, so I definitely feel comfortable out there. It’s one of my favorite courses.”
Likewise, Stamey enjoys the familiarity of the tight, tree-lined fairways of his home course. His three County Am wins all came after final rounds at EG&CC.
“I love Everett obviously,” Stamey said. “But the rough out there is long right now, so if you don’t hit it straight you’ll pay some penalties. On any hole out there you can make double-bogey because of the rough.”
Also, the towering evergreens lining most fairways punish wayward shots. And coupled with the pressure of a County Am final round, “that golf course can get pretty tight,” he said.
“I’m used to hitting it kind of straight, which is what my game is. But I’ll have to be on my ‘A’ game because obviously Jake is a great player.”
Stamey started his Sunday round with a bogey on No. 1, but rallied with birdies on the fourth and sixth holes. He added another birdie on the 182-yard, par-3 No. 11, rolling in a 40-foot putt that was probably his best shot of the day.
Other contenders had disappointing days. Four-time County Am champ Todd Tibke of Snohomish Golf Course was in contention after an opening round of even-par 72 at Everett’s Legion Memorial Golf Course, but slipped to a 7-over 77 on Sunday. Kelly Denessen of Mill Creek Country Club was in second after Saturday’s round with a 4-under 68, but shot 5-over 75 on Sunday.
But no one suffered more severely than first-round leader Kris Jackson of Snohomish, who opened with a 5-under 67 on Saturday. He then went to 8 under with consecutive birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes on Sunday.
His fortunes began to change with a double-bogey on the ninth hole. He followed with bogeys on the 10th, 12th and 13th holes, and then a grievous quintuple-bogey on the 318-yard, par-4 17th hole, finishing with a 9 after dropping two shots in a pond fronting the green. Jackson, a member of the Bellevue Community College golf team, shot a 7-over 77 and is tied for seventh at 2-over 144.
The second division, for players with handicaps of 5.7 to 11.9, and the third division, for players with handicaps of 12.0 and higher, held their second rounds Sunday at Everett Golf and Country Club.
Bill Harman of Cedarcrest is the second division low-net leader with a two-round total of 4-under 138. Matt Wells of Everett’s Walter E. Hall Golf Course is the third division low-net leader at 6-under 136.
The second and third divisions will play their final rounds today at Everett’s Legion Memorial Golf Course.
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