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Pacific Northwest set for strong showing at 37th U.S. Mid-Amateur

The field is set for the 37th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, taking place this week October 7-12, 2017 at Atlanta National Golf Club in Milton, Ga.

The Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course in Atlanta, a Tom Fazio design that opened in 2002, will be hosting its first USGA championship when the U.S. Mid-Amateur is held there Oct. 7-12. (USGA/Russell Kirk)

Among the 264 golfers in this year’s field, seven hail from the Pacific Northwest:

Bonnalie and Dahmen.
(Photo: IGA)

Geno Bonnalie, 33, of Lewiston, Idaho, is PGA Tour caddie who is currently working with Joel Dahmen. The two switched roles for U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying on Sept. 10 when Bonnalie earned a spot in his first USGA championship. Bonnalie made a formal application for Rory McIlroy’s caddie position in mid-August. In 2011, he set the Guinness world record by playing 2,000 holes in one week (16 rounds per day) while raising funds for Cystinosis Research Foundation. He also suited up as the University of Idaho’s athletic mascot, Joe the Vandal, as a collegian.

 

Conrad (left) and Rohde (right)

Bob Conrad of Seattle, Wash. earned co-medalist honors at the Port Ludlow GC qualifier to earn a spot in this year’s Championship. Conrad is a former member of the University of Washington Men’s Golf Team, graduating in 1996 and competed professionally on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour, before regaining his amateur status.
 
Jacob Rohde, of Everett, Wash. clinched co-medalist honors in the sectional qualifier at Port Ludlow GC to earn a spot in this year’s championship. Rohde will be participating in his third consecutive U.S. Mid-Amateur.

This is the first USGA Championship that Ian Dahl (Longview, Wash.) has participated in, qualifying out of Astoria Golf & Country Club by way of a six-person playoff for the final spot. Dahl was a member of the University of California-Berkeley Men’s Golf Team from 2007-2009 before transferring to Seattle University to finish his collegiate career, playing from 2009-2012.

 

Photo: OGA

Eric Fiskum of Salem, Ore. earned the second of three spots in a qualifier at Astoria Golf & Country Club. He has now qualified for 10 USGA championships. Fiskum played collegiate golf for Oregon State University from 1994-98, and won the 2002 Oregon Mid-Amateur Championship and the 2006 OGA Tournament of Champions. He currently serves as tournament chair on the Oregon Golf Association Executive Committee.

 

Photo: OGA

Arthur Kim, 26, of Tigard, Ore., won the Warrenton, Ore. sectional qualifier by seven strokes when he fired a 62 at Astoria Golf and Country Club. Kim, who had nine birdies and no bogeys, claimed this year’s Oregon Golf Association Tournament of Champions and was a quarterfinalist in the Oregon Amateur. Kim, who is competing in his third USGA championship, played as a collegian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2010-13.

 

Sean Packer of Seattle, Wash. will be making his first appearance in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship this year, after earning a bid by clinching the first alternate spot in a qualifier at Jug Mountain Ranch. Packer made his USGA Championship debut in 2012 competing in the U.S. Amateur Public Links and was selected to represent Washington State in the 2012 USGA Men’s State Team Championship. Packer played his college golf at Western Washington University from 2003-04 to 2007-08 highlighted by a third place finish at the 2008 NCAA Division II Championship.

 


For additional information and details on this year’s championship visit www.USGA.org.