Taylor and O’Donnell Claim Title at Pacific Northwest Men’s Senior Team Championship
Denny Taylor of Gladstone, Ore. and Pat O’Donnell of Happy Valley, Ore. teamed to win the 33rd Pacific Northwest Men’s Senior Team Championship.
The championship was held at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort, and was conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
Tied for the lead going into today’s final round with the team of Don Orrell of Bend, Ore. and Jason Pigot of Redmond, Ore., Taylor and O’Donnell turned in a bogey-free scorecard, 5-under-par 66 on the resort’s par-71 Meadows Course to win the title by a single shot over Orrell and Pigot.
The two teams, playing together in the final round, were tied for the lead until Orrell and Pigot bogeyed the par-3 16th hole to fall one shot back. The teams then traded birdies on the par-5 17th hole and pars on the par-4 18th.
Tied for second with Orrell and Pigot was the team of Rob Matson of Wenatchee, Wash. and Bill Bradley of Issaquah, Wash., who played a flawless, bogey-free final round 7-under-par 64, coming up just one stroke short.
“It’s great to win a PNGA event,” Taylor said. “I’ve wanted to play in as many of these as I can, and I’m fortunate to partner-up with someone the caliber of Pat. I can provide a lot of pars and he provides a lot of birdies.”
Said O’Donnell, “We play a lot of golf together. Denny has a really great short game. We don’t get into a whole lot of trouble, and if we do I can always rely on him to put it close and give us a chance.”
In 2009, O’Donnell had been named the PNGA Senior Men’s Player of the Year, a year in which he also qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur. Earlier this summer he won the Oregon Senior Amateur, the fourth time he has won that championship. Taylor is a member of the PNGA Board of Directors. Both men play out of Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla, Ore., and have regularly earned a spot to represent Team OGA in the annual PNGA Cup.
The championship consisted of 54 holes, with the first and third rounds being played in a Four-Ball stroke play format, and the second round was played in the Chapman format. Round one was held on the resort’s Woodlands Course, while the second and third rounds were played on the resort’s Meadows Course. Entrants into this championship must be 50 years of age or older by the start of the championship.
For more information on the PNGA Men’s Senior Team, including complete final results, click here.
