The Snohomish County Amateur golf tournament always attracts many of the area’s elite golfers, and this year’s field is bigger and better than ever.
When the 80th annual County Am tees off Saturday for the first of three rounds, it will include 155 golfers from men’s clubs around the county. And this year’s tournament is top heavy with top contenders, including 14 golfers with plus handicaps, which might be the highest total in tourney history.
How deep is the field? Consider that defending champion Stephen Lee of Everett Golf &Country Club, who has an impressive 0.6 handicap, is tied for 24th among the best handicaps in this year’s field. Alex Stamey of Everett G&CC, who is chasing his fifth County Am title — that would tie Bob Whisman for the most wins in tournament history — has a 0.9 handicap and is tied for 27th.
“This is probably the strongest field I’ve seen,” said tournament coordinator Jason Himple, an assistant pro at Everett G&CC.
The field includes six former champions with 15 County Am championships among them. Stamey has four victories (2000, 2004, 2007 and 2008), as does Todd Tibke of Snohomish Golf Course (1987, 1988, 1999 and 2001), who has a +0.8 handicap.
Bob Burton of Mukilteo’s Harbour Pointe Golf Club, who has a +1.3 handicap, is a three-time winner (1973, 1974 and 1975). Mike Seek of Everett G&CC, who has a 3.5 handicap, has two victories (1990 and 1997). Jeff Strickland of Harbour Pointe, who has a 1.8 handicap, won once (1996), and Lee won a year ago.
The low handicapper in this year’s field at +3.4 is J.D. Clayton, who represents Everett’s Legion Memorial Golf Course. Close behind are Matt Epstein of Everett G&CC, who is at +2.9, and Dylan Goodwin of Harbour Pointe at +2.3.
Yet in the chase for the championship, handicaps mean nothing once the tournament gets under way. Lee, for instance, is nowhere near being this year’s handicap leader, but neither was he a year ago when he shot rounds of 72 (Legion Memorial), 66 (Marysville’s Cedarcrest Golf Course) and 72 (Everett G&CC) for a 4-under-par total of 210 and a three-stroke victory.
His 2009 win “got the monkey off my back,” said the 34-year-old Lee, an Everett dentist. “This is a tournament that I expected myself to win, and it just took me 10 tries. I missed some of my best years because I was away in college and in dental school … and I think I might have been able to pull it off a little sooner (had he been home).
“But I’m glad that I finally pulled it off, and hopefully I’m not done yet,” said Lee, whose win in 2009 followed victories by his father, Bob Lee, in the 1969 and 1972 County Ams.
In preparation to defend this year, Lee says he’s been “practicing as much as a working guy can practice.”
And he isn’t too worried about the bull’s-eye traditionally worn by the defending champ because, he pointed out, “there are a number of other very good players who are also wearing bull’s-eyes right now.”
Stamey and Tibke, meanwhile, both will be taking aim at Whisman’s record of five County Am wins (1952, 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1964).
Winning a fifth title “is certainly still a huge goal,” said the 46-year-old Stamey. “But unfortunately my golf game has been pretty crummy (recently). But I’m hoping I can catch lightning in a bottle and play well again.”
The first division, for players with handicaps of 5.0 and better, plays its opening round Saturday at Legion Memorial, moves to Cedarcrest for Sunday’s second round, and closes at Everett G&CC on Monday.
The second division, for handicaps of 5.1 to 11.2, and third division, for handicaps of 11.3 and higher, will both begin at Cedarcrest on Saturday, be at Everett G&CC on Sunday and finish at Legion Memorial on Monday. Both the second and third divisions compete under a low-net format.
Tee times for the first two rounds begin at 6:30 a.m. The tournament is open to the public and there is no admission charge.
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