We are the champions

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I often mention my daughter is a top golfer here in Oregon.  Here is a story about her that was in our newspaper on Monday.

A Stone-cold finish

Brie Stone, Joel Johnson win OGA Mid-Amateur Championships at Emerald Valley Golf and Resort

 

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By Ron Bellamy

For The Register-Guard

Aug. 25, 2014

 

CRESWELL — When she walked off the 18th green, Brie Stone knew she had won her fifth straight Oregon Golf Association Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, though not until then.

“Out here, you can double-bogey a hole from nowhere, really,” the 33-year-old Veneta resident said Sunday after her one-stroke victory over Lani Marie Elston at Emerald Valley Golf and Resort. “You hit the wrong part of the green, it can just happen so easily. I never quite felt safe, but I try to stay in that, too. When you think you’re safe, that’s when you’re not.”

Joel Johnson didn’t feel quite safe until the trophy was finally in his hands.

The 28-year-old former University of Portland golfer shot a 1-under 70, tied for Sunday’s low round and good for 1-over for the tournament. The left-hander had to wait for two threesomes to finish after him, then the totalling of scores, the anticipation of a very possible playoff — and a mistaken announcement that Bend’s Charlie Price had won the tournament, quickly corrected — before securing his first Men’s Mid-Amateur title, by one stroke over Price, who played in the last group and suffered bogeys on the last two holes.

“I knew those guys had to play the last few holes, which were playing difficult, with the wind picking up out there,” Johnson said “I was just holding my breath.”

Stone, who followed her first-round 73 with a four-over 76 (women’s par was 72 in the tournament, men’s 71), found herself tied with Elston going into the back nine but made key putts of about 6 feet for par on No. 11 and for birdie on No. 13, while Elston missed shorter putts on the same holes.

“Those were definitely the two big putts,” Stone said. “Those were huge.”

When Elston, a 31-year-old former player at Arizona who teaches piano in Milwaukie, triple-bogeyed the par-4 14th hole after pulling her tee shot into the marsh on the left, Stone’s bogey gave her a four-stroke lead and some breathing room. With the pressure of her unprecedented Mid-Am winning streak, she needed it. Stone had two bogeys over the final four holes but safely recorded a par on No. 18, while Elston rallied from her triple to finish with three pars and a birdie on No. 18 to come up a stroke short of a playoff.

“I felt more nervous out there today than I have in a long time,” said Stone, who was Brie Del Bone when she was a local juniors golf phenom and star at Sheldon High. “I can kind of fool myself sometimes that I’m not the favorite, but once you’ve won four in a row. ...”

There were worries for her caddie, husband Jason, too — though he’s carried her bag on occasion, he hadn’t in any of her previous Mid-Am victories.

“He said he was nervous about that,” Brie Stone said. “I said ‘don’t say that to me.’”

The continuation of the winning streak, Stone said, is “pretty awesome. I just never imagined that something like that could ever happen. This one is just as good as the first one. They’ve all been hard-fought and could have gone either way. I feel pretty fortunate.”

Johnson, who lives in Portland, began the day five strokes behind another former Sheldon star, former Oregon golfer Jack Dukeminier. “I knew I needed to make some birdies, fire at some flags,” Johnson said. “Fortunately, I did that. I wasn’t sure where I stood. ... I tried to look at the (leaderboard) at 15 and it wasn’t updated. So I just tried to come in solid and see where I finished up.”

While Johnson was gaining, his three bogeys off-set by four birdies, the 25-year-old Dukeminier, who works for an accounting firm in Portland, was coming back to the field, en route to a 7-over 78 that left him tied with three other golfers, including his brother, Chris, for fourth place.

“It was a tough day,” said Jack Dukeminier, who had several three-putt greens on the front nine, and errant tee shots that led to double bogeys on No. 10 and No. 13. “I played alright coming in, but it was a little too late.”

We are so proud of her ...

Now on to my card for this week's challenge at

Try Stampin' on Tuesday

and their sketch !

Here is my card !

Hope you like it.  A little preview of fall ...

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