High school golfers from 11 different teams in the Clark County area converged on the pristine conditions at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Vancouver on Monday, Oct. 7.
Ahead of the first tee-time for the inaugural tournament, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnery-Ogle assisted tournament founder Chris Harlow with a few words and the cutting of a ribbon to kick off the day.
The rare opportunity for high schoolers to play at Royal Oaks, a private golf club, was combined with the opportunity to partner with other teams’ players, some even rivals. The top two players from each high school in Clark County were eligible to play at the country club course with no cost.
“The goal of this event is to unite and spotlight Clark County, Washington’s best high school golfers in a fun, competitive team event …” the Clark County Cup’s website stated.
High schools with players from north Clark County included Woodland, Ridgefield, Battle Ground and Prairie.
The tournament was formatted with two overall teams, the green team and the blue team, the official colors of Clark County, with six pairings on each team. In the end, the green team defeated the blue team, 4-2, in their matches.
From area schools the green team featured Battle Ground’s Tommy Snitily and Rylind Simpson, Ridgefield’s Jack Heaton and Drew Krsul, Woodland’s Jake Sams and Prairie’s Alex Vockler. On the blue team Prairie’s Michael Rovig, Woodland’s Trent Blatnik and Ridgefield’s Broy Newcombe competed.
Newcombe had the lowest round from north county players with a 10-over par, 82. Krsul won the closest-to-the-pin on the par-3 fifth hole with 8 feet, 5 inches.
“It was an opportunity to play a course at a higher level than most kids get to play during the regular season,” Ridgefield head coach Bob Ball said. “You know, Royal Oaks being a top 10 course in the state, we don’t get that access for the high school kids very much. So, they were ecstatic to get that opportunity to play.”
