Orondo, Wash. (Thursday, June 14) – Chris Maletis, of Portland, Ore., stumbled out of the gate in the final round of the 43rd PNGA Senior Men’s Amateur Championship but finished strong in capturing his first PNGA title, shooting a 74 for a three-day total of 220.
At the Desert Canyon Golf Resort, Maletis started the day with a one-shot lead over Kent Brown, but after just two holes found himself down by two shots after opening with a bogey and double-bogey. Brown, who won this event in 2005 and is from Colville, Wash., played steady on the front side, and the two players, paired in the final foursome, made the turn in a dead heat.
Maletis turned his game up a notch on the back nine with birdies at 11 and 15, and stood on the 18th tee with a two-shot lead over Brown. But Brown turned out not to be his biggest concern, as a player in the group in front of them had so far spent the day breathing hard down their necks. Lew Mullen, of East Wenatchee, Wash., began the day seven shots behind Maletis. After five holes he was 1-under for the day – a couple birdies and a bogey, not bad but nothing earth-shaking. Then on Desert Canyon’s signature hole, the mammoth par-5 sixth hole, Mullen inexplicably shot a quadruple-bogey nine, and was essentially out of the running. Or so he, and everyone else, thought.
After the disastrous sixth hole, Mullen proceeded to birdie eight of the next eleven holes, and stood on the 18th tee, one group ahead of Maletis, just one shot behind the leader. Mullen could not keep the magic going, and bogeyed the final hole, finishing tied for second, a single shot behind the winner, who himself bogeyed the final hole. In all, Mullen had ten birdies on the day, finishing with a 68.
“One of the goals I had set for myself,” said the champion, Maletis, “was to win a PNGA title.” He and his brother, Tom, are founders of the Tournament Golf Foundation, which organizes such events as the LPGA’s Safeway Classic, held annually in Portland, Ore.
The Pacific Northwest Senior Men’s Amateur Championship is a 54-hole stroke play event conducted in two championship divisions, Open Division and Grand Division. Contestants will compete for overall gross and net prizes in each division. The Grand Division is an individual competition and is focused on identifying the best senior amateur in the Northwest and played from a longer yardage. The Open Division is an individual and team competition that is played from a shorter yardage. The team competition is four-ball stroke play.
