Another GCA congratulations...

[Jordan Wall]

First off, congratulations Corey, many blessings to you and your wife!

Second off, I have something good to report.
Fellow GCA'er Pat Howard had the fortune of playing in a pro-am this week, full of Candian Tour pros, top college pros (Brock Mackenzie was playing), and many other pros from a few states, and from Canada.
Unfortunatley, I was not able to caddy for him this tournament.
But, if I had, I would have caddied for someone who shot 66-66-73 and came in a tie for 4th place

Sounds like we have a couple cool GCA moments.
Congratulations Corey, and Pat!

p.s...Pat Howard, you cannot give me crap about embarassing you on a public forum
 
Good job man!

[Scott Witter]

Jordan:

Don't know much about Pat Howard...but three years ago I followed Brock MacKenzie as he layed in the Porter Cup, Niagara Falls US.  Of course there are always many great am's in this tourney, but Brock clearly stood out.  Since it seems obvious you know him, how has his game evolved and is there a real pro future for him?

[Sean Leary]

Scott,

Brock is getting ready for 1st stage of Q school, after playing mostly on the Canadian tour this summer, and a in few Nationwide Tour events.  In terms of his future, there are a lot of great players. He can really play. Some make it, some don't.  He is a super nice kid, and I hope he does make it.

[Jordan Wall]

I do not really know Brock, but a month or so ago he shot 61 from the TIPS at Aldarra
(Par 71..73.6, 148)

I would think he is good enough to go pro, but I am not sure.

I think Brock was around E this tourney, and Pat was -5.
Good job Pat!

[Pat Howard]

Thanks for the compliments Jordan. I played well, but left a few out there the last day.

As Sean pointed out, Brock is getting ready for this winter's Q-School. I saw him out here at Overlake for the first time in several years. He was joining the U.W. men's golf team for their Tuesday practice to give himself a little competition. It was good to catch up with him and he mentioned that he would be playing in the Budweiser Pro-Am as another tune-up for the big test, Q-School. I grew up in eastern Washington playing junior golf against Brock. I think both of our games benefited from our competitive rivalry and we're still good friends.

As for the Pro-Am, I think you guys would have really enjoyed the course setup. West Richland GC is a local muni that is fondly referred to as the 'Goat Ranch', and for good reason. The overall conditioning of the course is terrible and it always has been. But the course never has prided it's self on conditioning.

Its strengths are its width and its greens.
It really plays like a links course, wide open and the angles are very important. It was great to see the ball bounding down the fairway and landing your approaches short and watching them bounce and roll up to the hole. The greens are always extremely firm and fast, and this year was no exception as they triple cut and rolled them to a stimp of around 13.

[Jordan Wall]

Pat,

Let me know if Brock is ever coming to Overlake again.

I can always be sick for school...
 

13 on the stimp, is that like an average member-guest speed at a private club?

[Pat Howard]

Jordan,

No, these were the hardest and fastest greens I've ever played on. The only thing I've ever seen that compared were Shady Canyon's greens in Irvine, CA right after their Member-Guest.

They (West Richland) were great from a player's standpoint. They rolled very, very true and all you had to do was get it started on the right line.