39th Pacific Northwest Master-40 Amateur Commences at Suncadia Resort

The 39th Pacific Northwest Master-40 Amateur Championship begins today on the Prospector Course at Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash. The championship, conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA), will be take place May 12-16, and consists of the top amateur male golfers in the Pacific Northwest over the age of 40.

The championship calls for 36 holes of stroke play qualifying over the first two days which will seed the competitors into match play brackets. All matches are 18 holes and are played at scratch.

Past champions in the field include Greg Ott (2002) of Kent, Wash.; Paul Houvener (2003) of Mill Creek, Wash.; Ken Wade (2004) of Kennewick, Wash.; and Erik Hanson (2007, 2010) of Kirkland, Wash.

Last year, Bill Winter of Beaverton, Ore. won the championship with a 1-up victory over Norm Bradley of Kelowna, B.C. in the final match at Brasada Ranch in Powell Butte, Ore. Winter, the former University of Portland men’s golf coach, had won his last three matches in the championship 1-up. He had previously won this championship in 2005.

The Pacific Northwest Master-40 is one of 15 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.

The Prospector Course is a public course that is an Arnold Palmer design. Opened in 2005, it was the first course to open at Suncadia Resort, with the other two courses being the private Tumble Creek (a Tom Doak design) and the public Rope Rider (designed by the Jacobsen/Hardy team).