Ben Garrett and Erik Olson, both of Seattle, combined to shoot the low round of the championship in today’s final round to win the 60th Washington State Men’s Best-Ball Championship; while Duane Diede of Everett and John Von Lossow of Kirkland held on to their first-round lead to win the 23rd Senior Men’s Best-Ball.
The two championships were held concurrently at Salish Cliffs Golf Club in Shelton, Wash. and were conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA). A total of 100 two-man teams competed in the two championships.
For complete results and final hole-by-hole scoring, click here.
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Olson and Garret started the championship’s second round tied for second, just one shot behind first-round leaders Jarrett Foote of Woodinville and John D’Amelio of Bothell. While Foote, a 2014 graduate of the Washington State University where he played on the men’s golf team, and D’Amelio could not get anything going in the second round, Olson and Garrett put the foot on the gas and kept it there, shooting a 7-under par 65, and a combined 10-under for the championship, cruising to a three-shot victory over second-place finishers JD Rastovski and Jason Moore. Foote and D’Amelio finished six shots back of Olson and Garrett.
Olson and Garrett posed a formidable threat to the field. Olson is a 2007 graduate of the University of Washington, where he won the individual title in the 2005 Pac-10 Championship; while Garrett was a medalist in qualifying for the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Defending champions Tyler Matthews and Matthew Steele finished seven shots behind the winners.
“It feels fantastic,” Garrett said. “This is the third year we’ve played together in this event. We just missed in 2014, finishing second. It feels really nice to win a state championship. We try to play in as many state championships as we can, and as many USGA national qualifiers as we can. This (victory) really means a lot to me. I’m very excited.”
Olson reiterated the feeling. “It’s been a lot of fun. Yesterday was a grind (because of the bad weather), but we battled through it. Ben and I have been playing together since we were 12, so it’s awesome to be able to share this with him.”
“This golf course can be really punishing,” Garrett said. “And it just seemed that whenever one of us was in trouble, the other picked it up.”
For Diede and Von Lossow, this is their second title in the Senior Men’s Best-Ball, having also won in 2014. “It’s exciting,” said Von Lossow, when asked how it felt to win a second time. “This is a great golf course. Duane and I fought through some stuff yesterday – the weather, and I had a little health issue – but we were a good team again.”
Said Diede, “It just rained hard yesterday. And John had a problem with his hip, so we were lucky to have been able to start today with the lead, and lucky that we could even play. We feel blessed.”
The Washington State Men’s Best-Ball Championship was previously known as the Inglewood Best-Ball from 1956 until 1993, when in 1994 the WSGA began to run the event and introduced the Senior Men’s Best-Ball.
Payout (PDF)