2015 Oregon Senior winner
Pat O'Donnell (OGA photo)
CRESWELL, Ore. — Pat O’Donnell (Happy Valley, Ore.) defeated Scott Hval (Portland, Ore.) in 19 holes to win the 32nd Oregon Senior Amateur Championship on Thursday, held at Emerald Valley Golf and Resort in Creswell, Ore. from August 24-27.
O’Donnell’s win marked his fourth Oregon Senior Amateur win overall and second straight title. He’s won the Championship in 2008, 2010, 2014 and now 2015.
The Championship match started off in O’Donnell’s favor, as he jumped out to a 2-up lead after four holes. Hval would win four of the next seven holes, and the three-time champion was 2-up after the 13th hole.
O’Donnell sensed he needed to make a move soon after Hval birdied the par-5 13th hole to hold a 2-up lead.
“After he [Hval] birdied 13, I needed to switch gears and get something going,” O’Donnell said.
Both players birdied the difficult par-4 14th hole, and O’Donnell won the 15th hole with a par. After a halved 16th hole, O’Donnell evened the match after making par on the par-3 17th hole, while Hval missed his par putt that would have gave him a 1-up lead heading into the last hole. Instead, the match was all square.
The final hole in regulation came down to a 15-foot birdie chance for O’Donnell. After Hval had made his par, O’Donnell just missed his chance to win, skirting the outside of the hole.
On the 19th hole, which was played on No. 1, Hval knocked his second shot to about 15 feet. O’Donnell responded by hitting his approach shot to about 16 feet, and put the pressure on Hval by making his birdie chance. Hval missed his putt, and O’Donnell’s win was finalized.
Afterward, O’Donnell explained that Thursday’s win was in part because he listened to his wife to go to the doctor.
“My expectations coming in were not high, because last Friday my wife’s taking me to urgent care,” said O’Donnell. “[I had] such a bad virus going on … I could hardly move, hardly breathe. I couldn’t talk, and I’m still a little plugged up.”
“I owe it to my wife … I listened to her.”
O’Donnell’s Oregon Senior Amateur title comes shortly after winning this year’s Oregon Senior Stroke Play Championship earlier this month at Willamette Valley Country Club in Canby, Ore.
O’Donnell and Hval have now combined to win the last six Oregon Senior Amateur Championships (2010-15).
In Thursday’s Men’s First Flight Championship match, Charley Griswold (Bend, Ore.) defeated David Lydell (Aloha, Ore.) 1-up.
View results for Oregon Senior Amateur
ABOUT THE Oregon Senior Amateur
Entries are open to male and female amateur
golfers 50 years of age or older with USGA
Handicap Indexes of 18.1 or less and who are
members in
good
standing of an OGA member club. The field will be
limited to the lowest 96 qualified men. The
defending
champion and 31 finishers from the 18-hole stroke
play qualifier will advance to the single elimination
Championship flight match play portion of the
competition, with the remaining entrants placed in
single elimination match play flights according to
score. There will be NO age bracket flights.
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