Rain, sunshine at Alaska Airlines golf tournament

By Greg Knight

Sentinel writer

It was a case of rain and sunshine for the annual Alaska Airlines golf tournament at Muskeg Meadows last weekend – as torrential downpours socked in players on Saturday and gloriously warm and sunny weather was the name of the game on Sunday.

The tournament, which is one of Muskeg Meadows’ most popular and well-attended matches has seen immense turnout in recent years, though the 2013 version saw a slight downturn according to course manager Shannon Booker.

“Traditionally, this is the largest tournament of the year,” Booker said. “However, this year our numbers are down by about half. It was still a good turnout, though. We’ve had a lot of fun today, on Sunday, because the weather is cooperating.”

The weather on Saturday did affect play, Booker added.

“It really slowed play down across the course,” she said. “We didn’t get out of here until 5 o’clock yesterday, and we started at 10 in the morning.”

Forty-three players took part on Saturday, with 46 golfers making the rounds on Sunday.

Club member and golf instructor Don Roher’s team took first place on Saturday with a score of 37 on a 39 handicap. Roher said the weather hampered play for a number of golfers – just not his team.

“For us, it was an incredible day, but for a lot of our visitors it was a disaster,” Roher said. “There were times when we were standing in an inch of water and the greens were wet. Several times we had to move out of the water on the greens, but I was lucky I was playing with one of my old Boy Scouts, Joe Lewis and his girlfriend. At the last minute we put a team together. It’s a great tournament and you get to play with amazing golfers.”