2023 Golf

IN FULL SWING

DIRECTORY OF

COURSES

GETTY IMAGES Joel Dahmen looks from the 18th green at Corales Golf Course in Punta cana, Dominican Republic during the Corales Puntacana Championship on March 24.

Controversy overshadows National Treasure’s victory

HORSE RaCInG

Baffert horse euthanized before Preakness Stakes

By Dave Sheinin WASHINGTON

POST

BALTIMORE

– The sport of horse racing and all its fans and stewards had a little more than five hours Saturday to travel between the poles of tragedy and triumph.

Between Havnameltdown’s ontrack death at Pimlico Race Course in the afternoon haze and National Treasure’s dazzling victory in the Preakness Stakes under the long shadows of evening, the music kept blaring from

the infield festival stage, six other races went off without a hitch, and Bob Baffert trended on Twitter – and not for any good reasons.

Because the Preakness is the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown, the quick version of history from Saturday will first note National Treasure’s victory over runner-up Blazing Sevens and five other rivals in the smallest Preakness field in 37 years.

The victory ruined the Triple Crown hopes of Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who finished third, and gave Baffert his record-breaking eighth Preakness title.

“It’s been a very emotional day,” Baffert said, choking back tears during NBC’s postrace interview.

See PREAKNESS, 3

Koepka captures his old magic to take third-round lead at PGA

By Alan Binder NEW YORK TIMES

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Four years ago, less than a week before he won his second consecutive PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka allowed the world inside his swaggering mind.

“One hundred fifty-six in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I’m just going to beat,” he said at Bethpage in 2019. “You figure about half of them won’t play well from there, so you’re down to about maybe

35.And then from 35, some of them just – pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more, and you’ve just got to beat those guys.” Keep in contention long enough, he reasoned, and “good things are going to happen.”

He returned to the mix last month at the Masters Tournament, where he surrendered his lead to Jon Rahm during the final round. And now he is in the mix this weekend at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, where he fired a field-best 4-under-par 66 on a rain-soaked

Saturday, giving him a onestroke lead over Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland with a round to play. He had also scored a tournament-leading 66 on Friday, after a 72 on Thursday.

All of that is rumbling forth from a man with a wrenching medical history, a man who last year was trying (and failing) to shatter car windows at Augusta National Golf Club after a missed Masters cut, a man who just Thursday played a round that he said was “the worst I’ve hit it in a really long time.” He finished that

See PGA, 8

But sometime long from now, if horse racing has been changed permanently for the better or deemed too corrupt and cruel to be allowed to continue, it could be Saturday’s sixth race, rather than the more hyped 13th, that carries the weight of history. That is when Havnameltdown, trained and saddled Saturday by Baffert, broke down, threw his jockey and was euthanized on the track. It was a horrific scene that melded two of the most unsavory and controversial storylines in the sport – the spate of equine deaths at high-profile tracks and Baffert’s history of doping violations and suspensions – and shoved the smoldering mess into the face of the public on one of the most-watched days on the racing calendar.

While horse racing deaths are at their lowest rate since data was first tracked in 2009, scrutiny of the industry is an alltime high, particularly after seven horses died in the run-up to the Derby.

“Pimlico should have followed Churchill Downs’ example and barred Bob Baffert from the track,” Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said in a statement. “The tragic death of Havnameltdown is the latest in a long list of fatalities. The racing industry must kick out the bad guys or it will have blood on its hands as well as blood on its tracks.”

Baffert had been absent from the Triple Crown chase for two years –largely the result of a sus-

pension stemming from his stewardship of Medina Spirit, who won the 2021 Kentucky Derby only to be disqualified for a positive drug test. Medina Spirit died later that year of an apparent heart attack, and Baffert was barred from the 2022 Triple Crown races, plus this year’s Derby. Though he kept a lower profile than usual, showing up at Pimlico on the day before the race, Baf-

fert nonetheless sucked in much of the oxygen from the prerace atmosphere. But Saturday’s proceedings didn’t even make it all the way to the Preakness itself before Baffert was back in the national consciousness for all the wrong reasons – forced to answer for a tragedy that again scarred the sport. It left another beautiful animal dead and a jockey, Luis Saez, at a nearby hospital with a leg injury. Af-

ter X-rays came back negative, Saez was released later in the day, and his agent told reporters that he hopes to ride at Pimlico on Sunday.

“We never had an issue with him,” Baffert said of Havnameltdown. “We are so careful with all these horses, and it still happens. It is something that is very disheartening. ... We do grieve when these things happen. There’s nothing worse than com-

GRINER COMES FULL CIRCLE

WNBA

Phoenix star returns from darkest days

By Gus Garcia-Roberts WASHINGTON POST

LOS ANGELES – Brittney Griner

crouched slightly at the half-court line, leaped and extended a long arm over her lean 6-foot-9 frame to easily bat the ball backward to her teammate. It was one of several movements – the tip-off to start the game – that Griner has performed hundreds of times over the past decade as the dominant center for the Phoenix Mercury.

But doing it again, and this soon –in a fired-up arena with the vice president in attendance – would have been nearly impossible to picture less than a year ago when Griner was shackled in a Russian court, being sentenced to nine years in prison.

By the scoreboard alone, Griner’s return Friday to professional basketball, as Phoenix took on the Los Angeles Sparks to open the 2023 WNBA season, was a rout. The Sparks claimed a 94-71 victory, and Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks in 25 minutes. But her return cemented one of the most unlikely comeback stories in sports history – and one of the most unusual.

Griner, a top star in her league, faced a dark future in a penal colony as a pawn in international relations after customs officials in Russia, where she played for a professional team during the WNBA offseason, found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. She ultimately spent 294 days in Russian custody before being returned to the United States in December in a controversial prisoner swap for convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Friday’s season opener was her first WNBA game since Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Oct. 17, 2021. Following the game, Griner, 32, said that her incarceration caused her to “appreciate everything a little bit more” – which included a warm welcome in an opposing team’s arena and a surprise visit to the locker room by Vice President Harris. But the sentimentality had its limits.

“Not good enough,” Griner said to sum up the game. “We didn’t get the dub.”

The night at times felt like a celebration accompanied by a basketball game. Before tip-off, Griner’s every movement was followed by a gaggle of video and still photographers. Fans waved cutout photos of her face, and the announcer led the arena in a chant of “Welcome home, BG!” Griner motioned to her heart as she received a standing ovation.

The vice president walked on the court and waved, and several celebrities, including former Lakers allstar Pau Gasol, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and tennis champion Billie Jean King, sat courtside.

Griner stood with her teammates during the national anthem, a departure from her stance before incarceration, when she refused to take the court during the anthem. Her protest, which started amid national uproar over police brutality and racism in 2020, attracted conservative ire when she then required rescue from the American government. Griner explained after the game that the anthem “just means a little bit more to me now,” saying of her incarceration: “I was literally in a cage and could not stand the way I wanted to.”

Griner said that she still supports her teammates who choose not to stand for the anthem, adding that making such decisions for yourself “actually makes you more American.”

Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard echoed that sentiment before the game, calling Friday a “day of joy” that made her proud of her country.

“We brought home this woman, this Black gay woman, from a Russian jail,” Nygaard said. “And America did that because they valued her. ... It makes me very proud to be an American. And even though there are people for who that doesn’t make them proud, for me, I see (Griner), and I see hope.”

Griner was stopped at a Moscow-area airport on Feb. 17, 2022 –a week before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but her detention was not reported in the press for weeks afterward. For most of 2022, the American public – and Griner’s family and teammates – only received sporadic glimpses of her plight via images of her in chains or behind jail cell bars. An eighttime all-star who helped lead the Mercury to a championship in 2014, Griner sometimes seemed forgotten – which Nygaard tried to combat last year by starting every news

conference with a new tally of how many days she had been incarcerated in Russia.

Nygaard said that Griner’s freedom was a result of the persistence of those within the league. “When one of their sisters was in this predicament, this terrible situation, they used their voice and they amplified it,” Nygaard said. “I think it was the voices of the WNBA and the fans of the WNBA that finally got the Biden administration until they said, ‘You know what, let’s make this happen.’ ”

In December, President Biden authorized the swap of Griner for Bout, a Russian national serving a 25-year sentence in American prison for arms trafficking. In remarks announcing Griner’s return, Biden said that Griner “didn’t ask for special treatment,” and that her only request was that his administration not “forget about me and the other American detainees.” Griner has since attempted to put a focus on those detainees still in Russia by posting messages to her social media encouraging “everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home.”

Griner’s saga has shed light on the compensation of the world’s best female basketball players, whose relatively paltry pay – WNBA salaries top out at just more than $200,000 – has forced even the greatest of them to moonlight overseas, as Griner was when she was detained. And even with all of the pomp for Friday’s game, which was broadcast on ESPN and attracted national sports reporters, the empty upper decks of the Crypto.com Arena did not escape the attention of players and the Mercury coach. “Honestly, c’mon L.A. – we didn’t sell out the arena for BG?” Nygaard said. “It was great, it was loud, but how was it not a sellout?” Griner expressed hope that the media focus on her will bring new fans to the WNBA. “Hopefully, everybody tuning in to see me now will see somebody else,” she said.

ing back (to the stables) and the stall is empty. He is a nice horse. He could not have been doing any better. It’s sickening. I am in shock.”

Into this wounded sport Saturday evening galloped National Treasure, his mission to get to the finish line first unaffected by the carnage of the sixth race. At 5-2 odds, he broke well from the starting gate, led almost the entire way and – guided expertly by

GETTY IMAGES

jockey John Velazquez, who snapped a 0-for-12 skid in this race – held off a monstrous charge down the stretch from Blazing Sevens to win in 1 minute, 55.12 seconds.

Afterward, at the end of a wrenching day, Baffert’s words came in fits and starts: “This business is all twists and turns, the ups and downs. ... The emotions of this game ... to win this ... losing that horse today really hurt.”

SEATTLE STORM

Aces have upper hand during Storm season opener

By Percy Allen SEATTLE TIMES

SEATTLE – The disparity in size and experience told the story of the Storm’s lopsided 105-64 loss to Las Vegas in Saturday’s WNBA opener.

The discrepancies between the teams, however, was keenly apparent when Seattle rookie Jordan Horston paired against reigning MVP A’ja Wilson.

The former Tennessee star had a few nice moments in her professional debut, including a fake that eluded Wilson before a step-through move for a scoop layup that gave the Climate Pledge Arena crowd a rare chance to cheer late in the second quarter.

But more often than not, the 6-foot-4 and 195-pound Wilson used a 2-inch and 30-pound size advantage over Horston to overpower the Storm in the paint for 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Horston, who finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in her first WNBA game, felt awestruck in the matchup against many of her idols, including former Tennessee star Candace Parker.

“It’s crazy. There’s so many great players that I looked up to on this team,” she said. “I always compared to myself Chelsea Gray. … It’s surreal that I’m playing against them right now.

“But once you get on the court, there’s no friends on the court, so I just got to let that go out the window and compete. But after the game, I’m going to be the first one to dap them up and tell them I’m a fan of theirs. But when the clock is rolling, it’s all about Seattle.”

If first impressions mean anything, then this season looks like a summerlong experiment that will test the Storm’s belief in their small-ball lineups that had Horston playing backup power forward at times.

Seattle was outrebound-

ed 43-28 and outscored 4630 in the paint.

Coach Noelle Quinn is hoping the Storm’s activity and athletic play can overcome basketball physics, which generally favors bigger players in most matchups.

When asked for three keys before the game, Quinn said: “We know they have a lot of firepower at a lot of positions. Being locked in on our schemes and our scout first and foremost. Second, I would say is rebounding. After we’ve rebounded and guarded our yard finishing possessions with rebounds.

“The last thing I would say is play with pace. We want to get out in run transition. Keep our turnovers low so we take shots on goal. If we defend at a high level and play with some pace, I think that’s a good starting block for us.”

It sounds good in theory, but on Saturday Las Vegas’ offense dominated.

The Aces had six players score in double figures, including former Washington Huskies star Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who each scored a gamehigh 23 points. Gray finished with 14 points, Parker 12 and former Storm standout Alysha Clark 10.

Seattle didn’t have much of a counterpunch aside from Jewell Loyd, who overcame a bad shooting start – she opened 0 for 8 – before finishing with a team-high 22 points on 7-for-25 shooting from the floor.

No other Storm player scored more than eight points.

Horston’s short jumper tied the game at 14 late in the first quarter when things slipped away from Seattle.

That’s when Las Vegas took control with an 18-2 run to go up 32-16 midway through the second quarter. The Storm never got much closer the rest of the way. Seattle plays Dallas on Friday.

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner stands for the national anthem before Friday’s WNBA season opener against the Sparks in Los Angeles.

Jockey John Velazquez on ultimate champion National Treasure, right, and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Blazing Sevens, center, come out of the fourth turn during the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday in Baltimore.

The do’s and don’ts of mulligan management

By Jim Kershner FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Today we need to discuss the most important skill in all of golf: mulligan management.

What? You’re going to complain that mulligans have no place in golf? That mulligans are simply a way of cheating?

I’m sorry. You are wrong. Mulligans make golf more enjoyable. I will concede that mulligans have no place in tournaments. Taking a mulligan in a tournament is illegal and grounds for ...

Oh, wait. I just saw a downtown billboard for a local tournament with the motto “Cheating for Charity!” That’s right, in this tournament, you are encouraged to buy mulligans for $25 each, which is perfectly ethical because all of the money goes to charity. No one is under the delusion that this is a true competitive tournament. In fact, you can buy a “Cheat Package” for $250, which includes multiple mulligans.

So, I guess mulligans are not illegal in every tournament.

Anyway, how often are you playing in a competitive tournament? Aren’t you playing with your friends for fun, most of the time? And mulligans – I submit to the court – make golf more fun. There is no harm in a mulligan or two, even if you are competing with your friends for money, as long as everybody gets the same number of mulligans.

These thoughts occurred to me the other day on a recent visit to Circling Raven. At the first tee, in my capacity as my foursome’s self-declared Golf Commissioner, I announced that everyone in our foursome was entitled to one mulli-

gan per nine. My playing partners were not complaining – not at all – but they did have one question: Why?

“Because I thought we should try to have fun today,” I said. “We should at least try, at these prices.”

As the day went on, we all realized it did make the game more fun, or at least it reduced the amount of time we spent complaining about our rotten luck. It also introduced an entirely new level of strategy for the game.

Which brings us back to the art of mulligan management. We all realized that we had to use our mulligans correctly if we wanted them to bring best value.

Here are a few of the guidelines we came up with:

Don’t use your mulligan impulsively: Top a drive 100 yards and you will be sorely tempted to angrily tee up another ball. This is probably a mistake, for two reasons. First, you have actually advanced the ball 100 yards. Many of your bad shots, yet to come, will hurt you worse than that. Second, there is no guarantee that you won’t top your mulligan 75 yards –and into the water.

Don’t waste your mulligan on a putt, unless it was a an epically bad putt: See if you can detect why it was wrong for me to declare, “Mulligan!” after missing

Golf regulators take aim at the long drive

By Alan Blinder NEW YORK TIMES

MARANA, Ariz. – Elite golfers, who have increasingly used head-turning distances on their drives to conquer courses, should be forced to start using new balls within three years, according to the sport’s top regulators, inflaming a debate that has gathered force in recent decades.

The U.S. Golf Association and the R&A, which together write golf’s rule book, estimated that their technical proposal could trim top golfers’ tee shots by an average of about 15 yards. Although golf’s rules usually apply broadly, the governing bodies are pursuing the change in a way that makes it improbable that it will affect recreational golfers, whose talent and power are usually well outpaced by many collegiate and top amateur players.

But the measure, which would generally ban balls that travel more than 317 yards when struck at 127 mph, among other testing conditions, could have far-reaching consequences for a men’s professional game filled with figures who believe that gaudy statistics and remarkable displays of athleticism are central to its appeal. Dozens of balls that are used could become illegal on circuits such as the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, as the European Tour is now marketed, if they ultimately embrace the proposed change.

That outcome is not guaranteed – the PGA Tour stopped well short of formally endorsing the proposal – but the forces behind the recommendation insisted that the golf industry needed to act.

“I believe very strongly that doing nothing is not an option,” Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A, said in a video interview. “We want the game to be more athletic. We want it to be more of an elite sport. I think it’s terrific that top players are stronger, better trained, more physically capable, so doing nothing is something that to me would be, if I was really honest, completely irresponsible for the future of the game.”

The USGA’s CEO, Mike Whan, sounded a similar note in a statement: “Predictable, continued increases will become a significant issue for the next generation if not addressed soon.”

Some players attach far less urgency to the matter and fear that public interest in the professional game will fade if long-hitting stars are made to appear at least somewhat more ordinary.

“With the creation of the Golf Channel, the 24-hour news cycle of golf, I think we forget that we’re entertainers,” Bubba Watson, a two-time Masters Tournament victor, said in an interview in Arizona, where he is expected to play in an LIV Golf event this week. “If we’re going to start dialing back,

we lose that entertainment value. We want to see people go for it, and just because you can hit it a long way doesn’t mean it goes straight.”

Watson, who owns a driving range in Florida and was once among the PGA Tour’s most powerful hitters, added: “Let us be athletic. Let us try to come up with new ways to hit the ball better, straighter, farther.”

Helped by equipment and an intensifying focus on physical fitness, players have certainly been finding some of those methods.

In the 2003 season, PGA Tour players recorded an average driving distance of about 286 yards, with nine golfers typically hitting at least 300 yards off the tee. In the current season, drives are averaging 297.2 yards, and 83 players’ averages exceed 300 yards. The typical club head speed – how fast the club is traveling when it connects with the ball –for Rory McIlroy, the tour’s current driving distance leader at almost 327 yards, has been about 122.5 mph, about 7 mph above this season’s tour average. Some of his counterparts, though, have logged speeds of at least 130 mph.

At last year’s British Open, every player who made the cut had an average driving distance of at least 299.8 yards on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. When the Open, an R&A-administered tournament, had last been staged at St. Andrews in 2015, only 29 of the 80 men who played on the weekend met that threshold.

The yearslong escalation has unnerved some of the sport’s executives and course architects, who have found themselves redesigning holes while also sometimes fretting over the game’s potential environmental consequences.

During the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia last month, for instance, the par-5 13th hole was 35 yards longer than it was the year prior. The hole, lined with azaleas and historically the course’s easiest, measured 545 yards.

Rule makers considered targeting club design but concluded that a reworked standard would cause too many ripples, with multiple clubs potentially requiring changes. Instead, after years of study and debate, the USGA and R&A settled on trying to change the ball standard that has been in place since 2004.

The proposal announced is not final, and its authors will gather feedback about it into the summer. Although some members of the game’s old guard have complained about modern equipment and the governing bodies’ response to it – nine-time major champion Gary Player fumed last year that “our leaders have allowed the ball to go too far” – some more recent stars immediately voiced skepticism about the potential change.

a 10-foot birdie putt by a half-inch – a half-inch!

Any guesses, class?

Yes, you are correct. I missed the mulligan putt by 3 feet, thus throwing away a mulligan without saving even one stroke. Sorry, I meant, it actually cost me a stroke. Yes, I missed the 3-footer, too. There are some exceptions, for those of us who are particularly atrocious putters. When you overhit a putt so badly that it rolls off the green and into the woods, it might be worth a mulligan.

This leads us to the No. 1 rule of mulligan management: Use your mulligan without hesitation when it is likely to save two strokes. A drive out of bounds is the classic, and best, use of a mulligan. Standing on the tee hitting your first stroke is far superior to standing on the tee, hitting your third. This applies not just to out-of-bounds drives, but any out-of-bounds shot. Use it on an out-of-bounds chip shot, too, if you can somehow pull off that awesome feat.

There’s also a corollary to the above rule:

Consider using your mulligan when your first bad shot is likely to lead to an equally horrendous second shot: These kinds of shots are all too common. One example: hitting into a sand trap and giving yourself a fried egg. Another example: Hitting it into dense woods, with no clear window for getting out. A third example: Hitting it into a passing beverage cart.

Which leads to the No. 2 rule of mulligan management:

Never use it unless it is absolutely certain to save at least one stroke: This rule is simple common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many people ignore it in the heat of battle. See if you can detect the flawed logic of the 21-handicapper who comes up short on a 190-yard par-3

and throws down another ball and says, “Mulligan.”

Correct. He assumed falsely that he has any chance of hitting that green.

Now, let’s not go mulligan-mad. I am not here to advocate mulligan chaos, mulligan anarchy. The following guidelines will keep your mulligan game within reason:

The mulligan policy must be announced on the first tee: On No. 16, you can’t suddenly declare that everyone gets a mulligan – just because your drive dented the siding of a house.

You cannot have more than one or two mulligans per round. Otherwise, everybody will be throwing down a second ball on every bad shot, which is really not a game of golf at all, but something called “practice.” This just slows the round down and causes you to search not just for one errant tee shot, but four errant tee shots.

I know it sounds strict to limit your number of mulligans, but here’s something that should take the sting out:

The Breakfast Ball: This is the common term for a do-over on the first tee. No, it does not count against your mulligans.

The Breakfast Ball is an ingrained golf tradition, separate from the common mulligan, and you always get one even if teeing off at lunchtime, brunchtime, dinnertime and even teatime (not to be confused with tee time). The Breakfast Ball serves a crucial purpose in golf culture, because it causes mediocre golfers to become much more relaxed on what is otherwise the most stressful shot of the day. Most of the time, they are so relaxed they do the unthinkable and hit a perfectly good drive.

But to answer your question: No, you can’t save your Breakfast Ball for later. That’s what your mulligan is for. Use it wisely.

COURSE DIRECTORY

Avondale GC: Hayden Lake, (208) 772-5963. 18-hole greens fees, through Sept. 18, $100, except Mondays at $50. 9-hole weekends/ weekdays, $55. 18-hole non-Kootenai County residents, $120. 18-hole seniors (60+), $75. 18-hole juniors, $47. Members guest, $47. 18-hole cart fee, $35; 9-hole, $19. 18-hole cart fee (nonmembers), $40; 9-hole, $22. Tee times: no deadlines. (avondalegolfcourse.com)

Bryden Canyon GC: Lewiston, (208) 746-0863. 18-hole greens fees: $30. 9-hole: $19. Junior rate: free with adult round; unaccompanied: $12. College rate: $14 with ID, LCSC student/faculty: $7. Military rate (Tuesdays only): $25 w/cart. 18-hole cart fee: $16 per rider; 9-hole: $10 per rider. Tee times: no deadlines. (brydencanyongolf. com) Chewelah G&CC: (509) 9356807. Course open through Sept. 30 weekend/weekday (includes cart): 18 holes $77/$69; 27 holes

$97/$89. Every day after 2 p.m.

(includes cart): 9-hole $30, 9-hole walking $20; 18-hole $54. Seniors: nine holes $25, 18 holes $49/$42, 27 holes $59/$52. Juniors: free on nine holes with paying adult, 18 holes $49/$25, 27 holes $59/$35.

Walking rates all season weekend/ weekday: nine holes $25/$25, 18 holes $57/$49, 27 holes $67/$59. Tee times: up to 14 days in advance. (chewelahgolf.com) Circling Raven GC: Worley, (800) 523-2464. 18-hole greens fees (with golf cart, GPS and use of practice range): Summer (Through Oct. 1): Monday-Thursday: $159; Friday-Sunday and holidays: $179; replay (same day) and junior rate: $99. Early fall (Oct. 2-15): Monday-Thursday: $119, Friday-Sunday: $129; replay (same day) and junior rate: $79. Late fall: (Oct. 16-Oct. 29):

Monday-Sunday: $79. Tee times: no deadlines. (cdacasino.com/golf) Coeur d’Alene GC: (208) 765-0218. 18-hole greens fees: Mon-

day-Thursday, $50, Friday-Sunday and holidays, $52; seniors, Monday-Thursday, $42.25, Friday-Sunday and holidays, $47; juniors $18. 9-hole: Monday-Thursday, $30.25, Friday-Sunday and holidays, $32.50, Seniors, Monday-Thursday $27, Friday-Sunday and holidays, $26.50; juniors $12.50. 18-hole cart

fee: $36.50; 9-hole: $22. Tee times:

Call before midnight one week prior. (cdagolfclub.com) Coeur d’Alene Resort: (208) 667-4653. 18-hole greens

fees: weekdays/weekends, May:

$175; June: $225; July/August:

$275; September: $250; October:

$160. Resort rate without stay and play package varies on availability.

Fees include cart, range balls and forecaddie (gratuity not included), sports massage and compli-

mentary bag tag. (cdaresort.com/ play/golf) Colfax GC: (509) 397-2122. 18hole greens fees, $28, college (ages 18-24) $25, junior $15. 9-hole: $20, college $18, junior $10. 18-hole cart fee: $30; 9-hole: $20. Tee times: weekends, call one day in advance; weekdays, no deadlines. (colfaxgolf.com)

Dominion Meadows GC: Colville, (509) 684-5508. 18-hole greens fees: weekends/weekdays $40/$35; senior and college: $35/$30; junior: free. 9-hole fee: weekends/weekdays $27/$25; se-

nior and college: $25/23; junior: free. 18-hole cart fee: $20 per seat; 9-hole: $10 per seat. Tee times: no deadlines. (colvillegolf.com) Deer Park G&CC: (509) 276-5912. 18-hole greens fees: $40 (sunset rate: $17, times vary); members: $37; seniors: $35; juniors: $16. 9-hole: $27; seniors: $25; juniors: $12. Afternoon special (after 2:30 p.m.): 18-hole adults/seniors/members: $35; juniors: $12. 18-hole cart fee: $18 per rider; 9-hole $9 per rider. Tee times: no deadline. (deerparkgolf.com) Downriver GC: Spokane, (509) 327-5269. 18-hole green fees: prebook, $50, same day $47; 9-hole $31. Sunset rate (after 6:15)

Junior Nine- or 18-hole $15.

fees: 18-holes: $40 or $20 per seat; 9-holes: $28 or $14 per seat.

Highlands GC: Post Falls, (208) 773-3673. 18-hole greens fees: $45.95, junior $20. 9-hole: $35, junior $20. 18-hole cart fees: $19 per seat; 9-hole: $10 per seat. Twilight (after 2 p.m.): walking $39.95, riding: $54.95 Tee times: no deadline. (thehighlandsgc.com)

pricing all the

(theplains509.com)

(Wash.) G&CC: (509) 253-4308. 18-hole greens

$20,

$30, weekend and

$35; senior/youth/

$25. 9-hole: Monday-Tuesday: $20, Wednesday-Friday: $22, weekend and holidays: $25; senior/ youth/military: $20. Cart fees: 18hole: $30, 9-hole: $20. Tee times: no deadlines. (golfharrington.com)

Idaho Club: Sandpoint, (208) 265-2345. 18-hole greens fees (all fees include range and cart): weekdays (Monday-Thursday): 7-10:30 a.m. private members only, 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. $89-$140. Weekends (Friday-Sunday): 7-10:30 a.m. private members only, 10:30 a.m.7 p.m. $109-$140. Tee times required. (theidahoclub.com/Nicklaus-signature-course/) Indian Canyon GC: Spokane, (509) 747-5353. 18-hole green fees: prebook, $50, same day $47; 9-hole $31. Sunset rate (after 6:15) $25. Junior Nine- or 18-hole $15. Cart fees: 18-holes: $40 or $20 per seat; 9-holes: $28 or $14 per seat. Tee times: seven days in advance at 2 p.m. Unlimited pass: adult $2,300, senior $2,200, junior $250 (my.spokanecity.org/Indian-canyon) Latah Creek GC: Spokane, (509) 448-1212. 18-hole greens fees: weekdays (Monday-Friday and after 3 p.m. weekends): $43; weekend before 3 p.m. $45; rate for prebook weekdays $47, weekends $49; senior rate on Monday-Friday $33, weekend $36. 9-hole: weekdays and after 3 p.m. weekends, $29; weekends $31. Juniors Nineand 18-hole $13. College (with ID) 18-hole before 3 p.m. $29, after 3 p.m. $29. Twilight (Friday-Sunday and holidays): 9-hole $20. 18-hole single cart fee per golfer, $20; 9-hole $10. Tee times: no deadline. (spokanecounty.org/1141/Latah-Creek) Liberty Lake GC: (509) 2556233. 18-hole greens fees: weekdays (Monday-Friday and after 3 p.m. weekends): $43; weekend before 3 p.m. $45; rate for prebook weekdays $47, weekends $49; senior rate on Monday-Friday $33, weekend $36. 9-hole: weekdays and after 3 p.m. weekends, $29; weekends $31. Juniors Nine- and 18-hole $13. College (with ID) 18hole before 3 p.m. $29, after 3p.m. $29. Twilight (Friday-Sunday and holidays): 9-hole $20. 18-hole single cart fee per golfer, $20; 9-hole $10. Tee times: up to nine days in advance. (spokanecounty.org/1210/ Liberty-Lake) The Links GC: Post Falls, (208) 777-7611. 18-hole greens fees: Saturday-Sunday $49 ($69 with cart); Monday-Friday $45 ($65 with cart); seniors/military $39 ($59 with cart); juniors $20. 9-hole: Saturday-Sunday $30 ($40 with cart); Monday-Friday, $25 ($37 with cart); seniors/military $21 ($34 with cart). Twilight (after 3 p.m.) $47. Tee times: no deadlines. (golfthelinks.net)

MeadowWood GC: Liberty Lake, (509) 255-9539. 18-hole greens fees: weekdays (Mon-

day-Friday and after 3 p.m. weekends): $43; weekend before 3 p.m. $45; rate for prebook weekdays $47, weekends $49; senior rate on Monday-Friday $33, weekend $36. 9-hole: weekdays and after 3 p.m. weekends, $29; weekends $31. Juniors Nine- and 18-hole $13. College (with ID) 18-hole before 3 p.m. $29, after 3p.m. $29. Twilight (Friday-Sunday and holidays): 9-hole $20. 18-hole single cart fee per golfer, $20; 9-hole $10. Tee times: up to nine days in advance. (spokanecounty.org/1234/MeadowWood)

Mirror Lake GC: Bonners Ferry, (208) 267-5314. 18-hole: weekdays $31, weekends and holidays $33, juniors $11. 9-hole: weekdays $22, weekends and holidays $24, juniors $6. Cart fee: 18-hole $28, 9-hole $18. Cart trail fee: $6. Tee times: up to one week in advance. (bonnersferry.id.gov/mirror-lakegolf-course)

Palouse Ridge GC: Pullman, (509) 335-4342. 18-hole greens fees for residents (live within 40mile radius): $66. Nonresidents: $120. Seniors (60 and up)/faculty and staff: $56. Students: $46 (Monday-Thursday $41). Juniors: $20. Twilight: $50. Nine holes: $50. WSUAA member: $64. All rates include cart. Tee times: up to two weeks in advance. (palouseridge. com) Pine Acres: Spokane, (509) 466-9984. 9-hole: $12. Range bucket prices: 150 balls for $16, 100 balls for $14, 70 balls for $12, 30 balls for $6. (bit.ly/3fXDi7J)

Pinehurst (Idaho) GC: (208) 682-2013. 18-hole greens fees: $28; juniors $10. 9-hole: $18; juniors $7. Play all day Thursdays for $18, $30 with cart. Cart fees: 18-hole $25; 9-hole $15. (pinehurst.com)

Crystal Springs/Pomeroy (Wash.) GC: Pomeroy, (509) 843-1197. 18-hole greens fees: weekends/weekdays $20. 9-hole: $15. Cart path fee: $5. Tee times: none.

Ponderosa Springs: Coeur d’Alene, (208) 664-1101. 9-hole: $15; seniors/juniors/military: $13. Tenplay passes: $120 cash, $125 card. Pull carts only: $4. Club rentals: $3. Tee times: none. No dress code. (ponderosaspringsgolf.com)

Prairie Falls GC: Post Falls, (208) 457-0210. 18-hole greens fees: $40; seniors and veterans: $30; juniors: $16. 9-hole greens fees: $27; seniors and veterans: $18; juniors: $13. Cart fees: 18-hole: $19 per seat; 9-hole: $13 per seat. Trail fee: $13. Pull cart: $5. Range balls: small bucket (38-42 balls) $5, large bucket (72-76 balls) $8, jumbo bucket (165-170 balls) $15. (prairiefallsgolfclub.com)

Priest Lake (Idaho) GC: (208) 443-2525. Greens fees:

Opening-June 10 weekdays: 18-holes $40, 9-holes $30; weekend 18-holes $55, 9-holes $30. June 10-Sept. 10 weekdays: 18-hole $55, 9-hole $32; weekend 18-hole $65, 9-hole $40. Sept. 10-closing weekdays: 18-hole $40, 9-hole $30; weekends, 18-hole $55, 9-hole $30.

Holiday weekends: 18-holes $75, 9-holes $45. Twilight (after 1 p.m., cart included): 18-hole $50, 9-hole $30. Super twilight (after 3 p.m., cart included): 18-hole $40, 9-hole $25. Senior/military/student discount is 10%. Cart fees: 18-holes $17 per seat, 9-holes $12 per seat; push carts $5. Tee times: no deadline, but time availability varies. (golfpriestlake.com)

Quail Ridge GC: Clarkston, (509) 758-8501. 18-hole greens fees: $33. 9-hole: $20. 18-hole with cart: $50; 9-hole: $31. Tee times: up to two weeks in advance. (golfquailridge.com) The Creek at Qualchan GC: Spokane, (509) 448-9317. 18-hole green fees: prebook, $50, same day $47; 9-hole $31. Sunset rate (after 6:15 p.m.) $25. Junior Nineor 18-hole $15. Cart fees: 18-holes: $40 or $20 per seat; 9-holes: $28 or $14 per seat. Tee times: seven days in advance at 2 p.m. Unlimited pass: adult $2,300, senior $2,200, junior $250 (my.spokanecity.org/ qualchan) Ranch Club GC: Priest River, Idaho, (208) 448-1731. 18-hole greens fees $27. 9-hole $20. Twilight (after 4 p.m.) $17. Junior $10. 18-hole cart fee per rider: $15; 9-hole $11. Tee times: Holidays and weekends. (ranchclubgolfcourse. com)

Ritzville (Wash.) GC: (509) 659-9868. 18-hole greens fees:

Tuesday-Sunday $22; senior (Tuesday-Sunday) $17. 9-hole:

Tuesday-Sunday $15, senior (Tuesday-Monday) $12. Unlimited rounds

(Monday) $10. 18-hole cart fee $20, 9-hole $10. Tee times: no deadlines.

Sandpoint Elks GC: (208)

263-4321. 18-hole greens fees:

weekends/weekdays $37. 9-hole:

weekends/weekdays $29; juniors $10. 18-hole cart fee: $37. 9-hole: $26. Pull cart: $11. League nights:

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. Women’s league at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Tee times: before 3 p.m. on league nights. (elkslodgesandpoint.com/golf)

Shoshone G&TC: Kellogg, (208) 784-0161. 18-hole greens fees: weekends/weekdays $27, senior (age 65 and up) $22, junior (18 and under) $19. 9-hole: weekends/ weekdays $16, senior $13, junior $10.

Thursdays (except holidays), all day $30 including cart. Veterans 18-hole $21, 9-hole $13 every day; Veterans play half price fee on Mondays. 18hole cart fee, $27; 9-hole $14; push cart $10 for 18-holes, $5 for 9-holes. Tee times: call/online for tee times. (shoshonegolf.com)

St. John (Wash.) G&CC: (509) 648-3259. All-day greens

fees: weekends/weekdays $18. Pull cart $3. Motorized cart $25. St. Maries GC: (208) 2453842. 18-hole greens fees: weekends $32; weekdays $27; juniors

$13. 9-hole: weekends $20; weekdays $17; juniors $8. 18-hole cart fee $29; 9-hole $15. Senior Wednesdays: 18-hole $13; 9-hole $8. Tee times: no deadline

Stoneridge GC: Blanchard, Idaho, (800) 952-2948. 18-holes: $65. $85 with cart. 9-holes: $50. $65 with cart. Junior: 18-hole $25, 9-hole $15. Twilight (after 3 p.m.): $50, $65 with cart. Tee times: month or more. (stoneridgeidaho.

DIGNITY.

509.456.0438 hospiceofspokane.org

($90 with cart); seniors (Monday-Thursday) $50 ($68 with cart); juniors (under 18) $30 ($48 with cart). 9-hole: Monday-Thursday: $45 ($54 with cart), weekends: $49 ($58 with cart); seniors (Monday-Thursday) $36 ($45 with cart); juniors $20 ($29 with cart). Twilight rate after 3 p.m.: $54 ($72 with cart). Tee times: two weeks in advance. (golftwinlakes. com)

University of Idaho GC: Moscow, Idaho, (208) 885-6171. 18hole greens fees: public $37 ($31 after 2 p.m.); students $24 ($19 after 2 p.m.); seniors/faculty/military $33 ($27 after 2 p.m.); juniors $10 (10 and under play free). 9-hole fees: public $24 ($19 after 2 p.m.); students $18 ($13 after 2 p.m.); seniors/faculty/military $22 ($17 after 2 p.m.). Cart fees: 18-hole $15 per seat; 9-hole $10 per seat. Tee times: accepted one week in advance. (uidaho.edu/golfcourse) Trailhead GC: Liberty Lake, (509) 928-3484. 9-hole greens fees: adult $23, seniors $20 juniors $10, services $20, twilight (5 p.m.30 min before dark) $20 ($27 with cart), offseason $15. Second-round fees: adult $9, seniors $8, juniors $5, services $8, offseason $5. Season passes for unlimited play: adult $805, seniors/services $700, juniors $200. Pull cart $5. Club rental $13. Power cart: 9-hole $18; 18-hole $36. Trail fee $8. Range balls: small $7, medium $9, large $11. (libertylakewa.gov/golf) Wandermere GC: Spokane, (509) 466-8023. 18-hole greens fees: weekdays $36, weekend until 3 p.m. $40, $25 after 3 p.m.; seniors $32, junior $18. 9-hole: weekdays $28; seniors $26, juniors $10. 18hole cart fee: $36; 9-hole: $18; pull cart: $5. Tee times: weekends, call one week in advance; weekdays, call one day in advance. (wandermere.com) Rates may vary based on condition. Contact course for daily rates.

“EACH PATIENT AND FAMILY WE SERVE IS UNIQUE, and I feel it’s our job to customize the care that we provide because this is their journey.

We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to help them navigate this time with as much comfort, as much dignity, and as much peace as they can possibly have.”

– Gina DrummonD, rn, mSn CEo

RESPECT. COMPASSION.

LETTING IT RIP

going to have a good stretch.”

Q: Do people sometimes forget that you’re one of the best players on the planet? Do you?

JD: That’s actually pretty accurate. I would say that Geno does a good job reminding me that, ‘Hey, you’ve been in a little slump and you’re still in the top 80 in the FedEx Cup.’ That gives me a lot of confidence going forward. I did have a good fall.

By Jim Meehan THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

It’s been a few years since we checked in with Joel Dahmen.

That’s far too long, especially with the personable Clarkston native experiencing a season like no other in his life and PGA career.

In roughly the past eight months, Dahmen has played perhaps the best golf of his seven years on tour, some not-so-great golf, celebrated the arrival of son Riggs, moved into a new house, adjusted to the new-look PGA Tour and watched his popularity soar after being the focus of an episode on Netflix’s PGA Tour documentary “Full Swing.”

So there’s lots of ground to cover on those topics and more. We’d call it Joel Dahmen Unfiltered except he’s been that way since first meeting him when he was a senior at Clarkston High firing a course-record 61 at Indian Canyon in 2006 and a week later winning the second of his two State 3A titles at the same course.

Q: How’s fatherhood?

JD: Little Riggs is absolutely amazing. We’re so lucky. He sleeps, he eats, he laughs, always smiling. He’s sleeping through the night. He’s four months and he’s been doing it for three months. My wife (Lona) is very good at keeping a schedule.

It’s a game-changer. We’re joking about having another one and it’ll ruin everything.

Q: Does Riggs travel with you to events?

JD: He traveled at 6 or 7 weeks to Florida, drove to Mexico with him for vacation, South Carolina. Texas is coming up and he’s going to go to Ohio.

It’s fun to have him on the road. Lona does a great job with him and the Tour has a great day care. She can drop him off for four to five hours so she can take a nap or go watch golf.

Q: Apparently there wasn’t enough going on, you also moved?

JD: It was something we’ve worked on for almost three years, closed in July 2020. We only moved five minutes away (in Scottsdale), just a bigger lot and tore down the original house and built our dream home at a younger age than I would have ever imagined. Lona puts it all together. We got the nursery done right away and the kitchen, but all the things are still in boxes. It’s good enough to live in, but it’s still a long way from being finished.

Q: Were you at a Kraken playoff game recently?

JD: I was. It was a ton of fun with my cousin Josh, he caddied for me for a little while there. We’ve actually had season tickets for their first two seasons, but it’s the first time I’ve actually been to it. I split ’em with Josh.

I’m a huge Seattle sports fan. We have Seahawks season tickets and split

those with my cousin as well. We go to two to three games a year.

Q: What’s been the reaction and impact of the Netflix episode featuring you and longtime friend and caddie Geno Bonnalie?

JD: The Netflix thing … my life on and off the course, the opportunities that have come my way have been unbelievable. Now there’s more stuff going on, I’m recognized more, I’m in feature groups more. It was easy for me to blend in at a typical event. Now the autographs and the stuff all the top guys deal with, I’m dealing with more of that now.

I never imagined Geno’s and my story would resonate with so many people. We’re just a couple of fun-loving guys from the Inland Empire and it’s really amazing to see our popularity rise the way it did. It’s all positive, but it’s more time and responsibilities. All that means less time at home, less down time and less time to practice. It’s a balance I’m working on.

I’m not very good at saying no. I have to really work on my time and what’s important, figure that out and I’ll see some better results on the course.

Q: Nearly all of the Netflix shows were about superstars and major winners such as Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy. Were you surprised they asked you?

JD: It definitely hit me as a surprise. One of the things when they reached out with this idea, I said no at first. My wife and I didn’t necessarily want to be on camera. We’re normal people and we play golf and hang out. But as we talked to the producers and figured out all the names signed up for it, holy cow, it’d be a really bad idea to say no. It could be a pretty good thing for our lives and we didn’t have anything to hide. We gave them probably more (access) than anyone else, everyone else was superstars and top 10 players. We had no idea what their plan was, no editing rights or say in that part, but as it was building up and the year goes on, the cameramen and people producing it were like, ‘This is good, you’re going to blow up.’

A few weeks before it came out, we

were able to watch it. It’s just a couple of boys growing up together and goofing off. They did a good job of telling our story. We enjoy each other’s company and we’re living out a childhood dream.

Q: You come across as the guy people would want to play with in their weekend foursomes. Why do you think you and Geno strike a chord with fans?

JD: I hear a lot that I’m a relatable, normal guy, like you would play your Saturday morning game with but I’m just slightly better (at golf). I’m not afraid to have an adult beverage and hang out. You see a lot of guys become robots on the tour, and I understand that. You have to concentrate and focus and you’re winning majors and have the drive to be the best in the world.

I don’t necessarily have that, but I’m blown away by hanging out (on tour) for seven years and having the success I’m having. I think they see me as an everyman and a normal guy.

Q: You started strong in the fall with three straight top-10 finishes (two in top five) and five top 16s in six tournaments, but it’s been a bit of struggle lately. What’s going on with your game?

JD: I think there’s a strong correlation to being unsettled this last year. Having a kid is just life-changing, moving into a new house is difficult and then with Netflix, it’s a lot of distractions for me that I’ve never had before, very dramatic changes. I don’t think I’ve done a great job of managing that time wisely and that bleeds over to the golf course. A lot of that is fixable with a little time of managing that. A lot of times my mind has wandered this spring when I’m playing. It’s just one of those things I have to be ready to play when I show up. I just did a little work with my coach and I realize I’m not that far off. Alignment is key for me and also staying patient on the course. I’m not going to go out and shoot a bunch of low 60s. Stay patient and trust the process, it sounds so lame, but I’ll be fine. I have a big stretch coming up playing six of seven weeks, two majors and two designated events, so it’s big-time golf. I really believe I’m

There’s probably times that I do lean into that everyman, kind of having fun, but I would say the fire burns pretty competitively. I’m a little frustrated my game hasn’t turned around like it should. Highs and lows in golf, I’ve been on lower side for a bit, that’s the way golf is. You don’t stay there for long.

Q: Do people miss the fire, passion, work that you put in?

JD: One hundred percent. People I’m close with, my coach, Geno, they know I have an internal flame that burns pretty good, I wouldn’t be where I am if I wasn’t competitive. I think my self-deprecation or if I talk about a lack of practice … if people saw the work I’m putting in, it might be reading a book, or diving down other holes to make myself better.

I’m not good enough to fake it here. At this point, I’ve done something that a lot of good players do. I do like being unassuming and I’m not always the last one on the range, but I’m still doing a lot of stuff.

Q: What do you make of the PGA’s new tournament schedule, some designated events with smaller fields and no cuts, and the FedEx Cup changes. Good, bad or indifferent for you?

JD: It’s a little indifferent for me. If I finish top 50 and I’m in all the designated events and majors, playing for $20 million 12 times a year, it’s just incredible, but if I miss a cut at another event I still make zero dollars.

I can see where people think it mirrors LIV a little bit, but I think the other way. You’re still playing in all of the other events and you’re not playing with all the top guys and you’re playing for $8, $10 million. You’re still playing high-level golf and not always playing against the best players every week. I don’t see a real downside to it.’

Q: Do you set goals, whether it’s winning X number of times, playing X number of years, playing in a Ryder Cup or winning a major?

JD: I would love to get 10 more years out here. That’s maybe a stretch, but it gets me to 45 (years old). I think it would be a hell of a career. My family would be set up and Riggs wouldn’t have to worry about a lot growing up and that point I could be with the kids, be their basketball coach, T-ball coach.

If I could get 15 (years) on tour, it’d be pretty great. I do want to win again, I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. I feel like I’ll have plenty of chances to do that. There’s nothing like when your hands gets sweaty in contention, I want to be part of that. I truly believe the next few years of golf are going to be my best. If I can get the putter to be a little better, I truly believe that.

Jim

Meehan can be reached at jimm@ spokesman.com.

GETTY IMAGES PHOTOS

Former Clarkston High standout Joel Dahmen plays his shot from the fourth tee during the second round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Friday in Rochester, New York.

From left, Amanda Renner, Geno Bonnali, Joel Dahmen and Matt Fitzpatrick speak during a panel for the premiere of the Netflix show “Full Swing” on Feb. 11 in Phoenix.

Q&A

Joel Dahmen has built a following by being himself

Peters takes one last drive as Mead boys golf coach

Paul Peters was the 25th man as a freshman on the 25-man Shadle Park High golf team. He introduced himself to the game by smacking balls in a vacant sandlot near the family’s Indian Trail neighborhood home.

By his senior year, he was No. 4 on the varsity and went on to play at Community Colleges of Spokane.

“I wonder if I’d been 26th,” Peters said.

“Who knows where life would have taken me. Somebody, circumstances gave me a chance to get hooked on this game.”

He’s been hooked ever since, to the tune of coaching the Mead boys golf team for 44 years, the last 37 as head coach. He’s down to one more tournament – State 3A on Tuesday and Wednesday in Olympia – and one more road trip.

Peters estimates he’s taken roughly 800 road trips with his teams. He can’t begin to count the hours he’s spent at practices and matches at Wandermere, the program’s home course. Instead of doing the math, Peters offers a sincere “thank you” to the Ross Family, the course’s longtime owners.

Peters’ long career is reflected in the numbers. He’s guided four state-championship teams – three in a row from 1991-93 – and five second-place finishes, including last spring. He’s led the Panthers to 13 Greater Spokane League titles.

“It’d be nice to get another,” Peters said, “make it an even five (titles) and five (runners-up). We’ll see.”

But numbers and legacy aren’t on his mind right now.

“I kind of liken it to a player in any sport, say a golf tournament,” Peters said. “You stay with what you’re doing and focus and after it’s all over, you might have a chance (to reflect).

“But I have thought about it. I haven’t shed any big tears, but I know I’m going to miss it. Obviously, it’s been part of my DNA for a long time.”

Asked the most satisfying aspect of coaching, Peters doesn’t mention records or championships. He points to relationships built with his players – 15 to 20

day tied for 38th, a day after he declared the try-and-beat-me algorithm he detailed in 2019 still worked just fine.

Maybe he was right, though.

Sunday, of course, will have pitfalls. With its often firm and narrow fairways and a rough whose verdant hue makes it appear more appealing than it actually is, Oak Hill has been a devilish test since the first tee shot Thursday. After two rounds, only nine players were below par. After three, that figure had shriveled to seven.

Conners held a lead that crawled as high as two strokes for much of the day, helped along by a front nine that passed without a bogey and made the possibility of his first major championship victory all the more real. Born in Ontario, not all that far from Oak Hill, he has been a favorite of the galleries, energized by an April victory at the Texas Open and confident in his putting, a welcome status for a player with a reputation for expert ball striking. But a double bogey on the 16th hole sent him tumbling out of the top spot.

Hovland again lurked at and around the top of the leaderboard throughout Saturday. He has been there before: Since the start of last year’s British Open, he has been in the top 10 at the end of every major tournament round. His afternoon darkened quickly, with bogeys on two of his first five holes, before a spree of three birdies left him poised to take the lead on the 14th hole. A sand wedge from about 75 yards brought him just inside the green’s edge, but he missed a birdie putt, settling for par. He missed another birdie try at No. 16.

Six pairings ahead, Hovland’s playing partner in last year’s final round at St. Andrews, Rory McIlroy, rediscovered some of the form that eluded him at the Masters and beyond. (Neither Hovland nor McIlroy won that Open, which Cameron Smith left with the claret jug.) McIlroy, often drenched, shot a 69 for the second consecutive day, taking him to 1 under and putting his ambition to win his first major since 2014 not fully out of reach.

“I probably hit it a little better off the tee today than I did the first couple of days, but I think this tournament and especially in these conditions and on this golf course, the nonphysical parts of the game, I think, are way more important this week than the physical parts of the game,” McIlroy said. “And I think I’ve done those well, and that’s the reason that I’m in a decent position.”

former Panthers showed up at Wandermere three weeks ago when Peters was honored after the team clinched the GSL title – and stories that didn’t make the headlines.

He quickly offers an example.

About 15 years ago, a Mead player who didn’t always have great support at home fell ill during a tournament in the Tri-Cities. Peters said he did what anybody would do, taking the young man to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with myocarditis.

The youngster eventually recovered, overcame additional obstacles and rejoined the team more than a year later. He never played in a varsity match, but Peters proudly points out he’s healthy, lives in the area and works at a golf retail store.

“He always had a great heart,” Peters said. “It just wasn’t working well at that point.”

Peters, 73, has learned which players he can talk to and which ones to leave alone during competition, but his message, even without words, is unfailingly positive.

“During a round, maybe you’re not playing great and he’ll just smile at you,” said senior Benjamin Mulder, the GSL Player of the Year. “You’ll just shake your head, and he’ll keep smiling.”

Longtime Gonzaga Prep coach Dennis Dougherty first met Peters in the late 1980s. The Bullpups and Panthers have battled in recent seasons for GSL supremacy, but that didn’t interfere with their friendship.

“He’s really the exact idea of what a coach should be in high school golf or athletics in general,” Dougherty said. “He wants his players to get better, wanted them to compete, but he’s the most kindhearted and generous person out there.

“We’ve gone at it, but I’ve also had him into my home and we’ve played golf together.”

Keith Ross, Mead’s girls coach since 2009, played on Peters’ teams from 1994-97.

“My first thought of coach – I still call him coach – was all the mental and parts of golf that aren’t physical,” said Ross, who will succeed Peters as the boys coach next season. “Whether it was calming you down, breathing, how to be present, controlling your anger or even controlling when you get excited after making a couple birdies in a row.

“As a teenager, all you want to do is hit the ball as far as you could. He taught us there’s lot more to golf than that.”

To that end, Peters employed innovative methods. At practice, the team would play scrambles or three-club

tournaments.

One tourney was called “miss ’em all,” meaning players weren’t allowed to hit the green in regulation. It forced players to think where they needed to miss the putting surface to have the best chance of getting up and down. If they hit the green in regulation, it cost them a stroke to putt the ball off the green before completing the hole.

To provide a different perspective, Peters once brought in a “mental guru” from the Midwest to conduct a seminar for the boys and girls teams.

“I think he’d met the guy on a flight and they got to talking,” Ross said. “I think Paul paid for it out of his own pocket. It was quite fascinating.”

Golf has changed, especially in terms of equipment, from when Peters first entered coaching. Golfers have changed, too.

“The athletes now, look at the Mulder twins,” Peters said of senior standouts Bradley and Benjamin. “They’re bigger and stronger. There were always good players around, but there are more now.”

Peters is exiting the coaching ranks with another talented team. Of the nine GSL first-team selections, six were Panthers. Peters instantly provides insights into each player.

All six have tournament wins to their credit. At last week’s District 8 3A championship, Cameron Cantillana, playing as an independent, was tops on the team and finished second overall.

“We’re really deep, I mean our seventh kid is pretty good,” said Peters, who retired from teaching in 2002 after 30 years, the majority spent at Northwood Middle School. “Some of the scores they’ve been able to manufacture (including a GSL record at Deer Park), I have just kind of stepped back and giggled a little bit and been mostly amazed. I’m not surprised.”

His perspective on 44 years of coaching isn’t surprising either.

“I’m really spiritually, philosophically about all of this,” he said. “I’ve loved the opportunity. Like anything, it’s been right place, right time. We’re on these paths together for a reason.

“What I’ve thought about a lot is how much appreciation and gratitude I have for the whole situation, the relationships and people I’ve met. They call you a legend, but also if you’re around that long sometimes that just comes off their lips.”

And sometimes it’s an apt description.

Local watch

Joel Dahmen (Clarkston) struggled during the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday, shooting an 8-over-par 78 to bring his three-day total to 11 over, tied for 71st of 76 remaining golfers.

The rain-soaked Oak Hill Golf Course got the best of Dahmen, who did not birdie. He made bogey on Nos. 1, 6, 8 and 18 and double bogeyed Nos. 9 and 10.

Dahmen shot a 69 on Friday to make the cut. He will tee off in the second pairing at 5 a.m. on Sunday with Japan’s Kazuki Higa.

Sunday’s final round. The PGA of America, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington noted, is deeply skilled at setups.

Koepka has not gone as long as McIlroy without a major victory, although he has been more battered with injuries these past few years. He began to gain ground early in the day, with birdies on the fourth and fifth holes. At No. 5, christened Little Poison, his 179-yard tee shot landed neatly on the green,

setting up a putt for birdie. Unlike plenty of other past major champions – including McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau – on Saturday, he avoided a bogey at No. 6, a havoc-inducing par-4 that has been playing closer to a 5.

A second shot at No. 13 landed in the rough, leaving Koepka

96 yards from the hole. His next stroke put him on the green, setting up a birdie putt from roughly 18½ feet. That putt, though, seemed puny at the 17th hole, when Koepka rolled one in from about 47 feet. With the wet conditions forecast to clear, players expected the tees to be moved back for

“If they want us to go out there and shoot a good score, being 68, they’ll set it up that way,” he said. “They could, if they want, set it up for a low one for sure, but that wouldn’t suit the leader. The leaders always want a tough challenge on Sunday so they can play safe and the chasers get caught out.”

But the universe of chasers is a small one. Again, its members are pursuing Koepka.

COURTESY PHOTO

Mead boys golf coach Paul Peters, left, poses for a photo with his players after winning the District 8 4A/3A championship.

SPOKESMAN COLUMNIST

JIM MEEHAN

PHOTOS BY NEW YORK TIMES

Brooks Koepka putts on the fourth hole Saturday during the third round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

Bryson DeChambeau plays on the sixth hole Saturday during the third round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

STANFORD ENDS WSU’S POSTSEASON HOPES

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

From staff reports

Washington State did not qualify for the Pac-12 Conference baseball tournament after losing to Stanford 15-5 on Saturday at Bailey-Brayton Field. The Cougars (29-23, 10-19 Pac-12) finished 10th place in the conference, one spot shy of the nine-team tournament field.

Santa Clara 5, Gonzaga 3: GU pitcher Nathan DeSchryver gave up the lead with a homer, a single and three walks in the sixth inning and the Bulldogs (18-33, 14-13 West Coast Conference) were swept by the Broncos (31-18, 17-10) at Schott Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Gonzaga ends its regular season on a sixgame losing streak and has lost 18 of its past 24 games heading into the WCC Tournament. The Zags have the No. 6 seed and play

No. 3 SCU in a loser-out on Wednesday.

Softball

Washington secured a spot in the Seattle Regional championship game with a 3-1 win over McNeese State at Husky Stadium.

Jadelyn Allchin went 2 for 2 with a homer to back pitcher Ruby Meylan’s complete game for the host Huskies.

Washington will need to win one of two possible games on Sunday to advance to the Super Regionals, where it would host

MT. SPOKANE’S BOYS LEAD THE WAY IN 3A

TRACK AND FIELD

Mead’s girls hold off GSL rival Wildcats

By Keenan Gray FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

RICHLAND – “Memorable” is the way Mt. Spokane boys coach Danny Figueira described how this track and field season has gone for the Wildcats.

This weekend’s district meet was just another storied moment.

Two weeks after clinching the Greater Spokane League regular-season title, the Mt. Spokane boys again hoisted a team trophy, winning the District 8 3A championship on another scorching Saturday to conclude the two-day meet at Fran Rish Stadium in Richland.

The Wildcats scored 138.5 points, besting Southridge by 18.5 points for the title, and taking down defending two-time State 3A team champion Walla Walla by 33.5 points.

“Pleasantly surprising is probably the best way to say it,” Figueira said. “We had lots of potential in lots of different areas. We peaked at the right time of the season and kind of continued on the fly throughout the postseason. Hopefully, we can continue that on next week, too, but it was nice for our kids to come through today for sure.”

The Wildcats secured four individual wins, a relay title and multiple placings over the two-day stretch. Their top individual performance came on the final day from sophomore Kade Brownell in the boys 1,600 meters during the hottest time of the day.

Following a second-place run in the 800 on Friday, Brownell dropped nearly 6 seconds off his personal best from late April to win in 4 minutes, 12.92 seconds, defeating the top 3A 1,600 runner in the state, Walla Walla’s Brody Hartley, by 3 seconds in 98-degree heat.

“I ran up next to Brody and I felt like I had so much energy,” Brownell said. “I was like, ‘I better

go if I’m going to beat him.’… I figured I’d have fun today because I didn’t think I was going to qualify.”

Mt. Spokane also collected wins from Zachary Travis in the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches) and the 4x400 relay team in a state-leading 3:19.71.

Mead’s Domnick Corley bounced back a day after a disqualification in the boys 100 with a win in the 200, running 21.49.

Mead’s Evan Berg threw 170-10 to win the boys javelin.

University’s Dylan Schauble won the boys ambulatory 200 in 29.48.

Teammate Myles Wyatt finishing in third in 31.78.

Mead’s girls scored 109 points and won the 3A team title by 11 points over Mt. Spokane. Mead had six wins and strong showings from Charlotte Cullen and Dezlyn Lundquist.

“Everybody performed really well with less-than-ideal conditions,” Mead coach Dori Whitford said. “None of our girls went down and were taking care of themselves.

Charlotte ran a PR, Raegan (Borg) ran a PR, 4x4 ran equal to their time last time. … Dezlyn, not a PR, but today was about placing.”

Cullen, who captured the 800

Pullman soccer beats Franklin Piece, advances to state semis

PREP ROUNDUP

From staff reports

Roundup of Saturday’s high school state and district tournament action.

State boys soccer

Pullman 3, Franklin Pierce 0: Carlens Dollins had a goal and an assist and the visiting sixth-seeded Greyhounds (17-2) shut out the third-seeded Cardinals (14-2) in a State 2A quarterfinal. Pullman’s Aaron Oatley had two saves.

The Greyhounds advance to a semifinal for the first time since 1998 at Renton Memorial Stadium on Friday against second-seeded North Kitsap.

State baseball

Fife 8, Clarkston 6: Jack Erickson went 3 for 4 with four RBIs and the ninth-seeded Trojans (15-9) eliminated the eighth-seeded Bantams (18-6) in the first round of the State 2A tournament at Selah High School. Lance Heitstuman had two hits and two RBIs for Clarkston.

Montesano 5, Colville 4: Bode Poler homered, and the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (22-3) eliminated the 12th-seeded Crimson Hawks (16-8) in the State 1A quarterfinal at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam. Colville beat Overlake/Bear Creek 4-1 in the opening round behind Ethan Redberg’s two-run double in the eighth.

Klahowya 12, Deer Park 3: Nathan Turk and Gabe Carpenter had two RBIs apiece and the third-seeded Eagles (24-3) beat the sixth-seeded Stags (185) in a State 1A quarterfinal at Foss High School. Braylon Dean hit a two-run homer for Deer Park.

Teagan Tobeck hit a three-run single in the fifth inning to send Deer Park over

11th-seeded Toppenish 4-2 in the first round.

Adna 6, Chewelah 4: Sawyer Terry hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and the 11th-seeded Pirates (18-7) eliminated the third-seeded Cougars (184) in a State 2B quarterfinal at Mt. Spokane High.

Nolan Jeanneret and Dakota Acosta drove in runs for Chewelah.

Brewster 8, Northwest Chris-

tian 2: Blake Burgett hit a two-run single in a five-run sixth inning and the top-seeded Bears (24-1) eliminated the visiting eighth-seeded Crusaders (16-6) in a State 2B quarterfinal. Jacob Bell and Hunter Lindsey knocked in runs for NWC.

Kaden Van Dyke led NWC over nith-seeded Ilwaco in the first round with five strikeouts in a complete game two-hitter at Brewster High School.

District softball

Kennewick 3, University 1: Addy

Schuldheisz had three hits and scored the go-ahead run on a groundout in the sixth and the Lions (15-8) eliminated the visiting Titans (17-5) in the District 8 3A thirdplace game. U-Hi’s Kaidyn Howard went 2 for 4 with an RBI. East Valley (Yakima) 10, Shadle Park 3: Tia Ramynke hit a threerun homer in the seventh inning, and the visiting Red Devils (16-8) eliminated the Highlanders (18-3) in a District 5/6/8 2A crossover. Rachel Jones and Annabelle Moreno knocked in runs for Shadle.

Othello 9, Clarkston 0: Amarie Guzman threw a no-hitter, striking out 12, and the Huskies (18-5) eliminated the visiting Bantams (13-11) in a District 5/6/8 2A crossover. Camryn McDonald homered for Othello.

Deer Park 2, Riverside 1: Paige Hamilton homered and struck out 11 and the third-seeded Stags (16-4) beat the

on Friday, won the girls 1,600 in a personal-best 5:00.50. She also anchored the Panthers’ winning 4x400 relay team (3:57.97).

“Biggest takeaway was really being dialed in,” Cullen said. “Even in the extreme weather, just have to dial in, stay focused no matter what and just go for it.”

Lundquist cleared 11-0 to win the pole vault, beating Walla Walla’s Kirsten Anderson by 6 inches.

University’s Addy MacArthur threw within 5 inches of her personal best to win the girls discus, throwing 133-3 for her second title of the weekend.

Mt. Spokane’s Dakota Lundquist ran a personal-best 46.61 to win the girls 300 hurdles. The Wildcats’ Karissa Lindner won the girls 200 in 25.31.

Cheney’s Catlin Shaffer won her fourth wheelchair event of the meet in girls javelin at 17-7. Ferris’ Jacinda Distel threw 29-11 in discus to win her third ambulatory event.

4A

Central Valley’s boys scored 135 points to fend off Chiawana (129.5) for the 4A title. The Bears collected three of their four individual wins on Saturday behind strong field performances from Brandon Gutzwiler, Canyon Smith and Rodney Minette.

“A really good group of kids that came together,” CV coach Chuck Bowden said. “That was the most fun in terms of watching them. Even with some of the setbacks today, it was a testament to them. Field event kids led the way.”

Gutziler won the high jump at 6-2, followed by Smith in javelin at 170-0 and Minette in shot put at 5111¾. Lewis and Clark’s Evan Bruce won the boys 1,600 in 4:19.66 for his second win of the meet.

On the 4A girls side, CV led the GSL with a fifth-place finish with 90 points. Nicole Bissell led the Bears, winning the 1,600 in 5:00.88 and anchoring the 4x400 team to victory in 4:01.68. Gonzaga Prep’s Rhyan Madden won the girls 300 hurdles in 46.92, just short of her personal best by two-hundredths of a second.

top-seeded Rams (14-3) in the District 7 1A championship game at Mt. Spokane High. Olivia Oergel struck out eight for Riverside.

Riverside 10, Freeman 9: Lexie Repp hit a walk-off single with two outs in the eighth inning and the top-seeded Rams (15-3) eliminated the second-seeded Scotties (16-7) in the District 7 1A second-place game at Mt. Spokane HS to qualify for state. Allison Lapano had four hits for Riverside, and Olivia Oergel struck out four over 51/3 shutout innings of relief for the win.

Freeman reached the second-place game with a 15-5 win over Colville. Kaylee Ripke struck out 12 and went 2 for 3 with a homer, four runs and three RBIs in the Scotties’ win over the fourth-seeded Crimson Hawks (11-12) .

Northwest Christian 2, Colfax

1: Kaitlyn Waters hit a two-run double in the sixth and the second-seeded Crusaders (19-2) beat the top-seeded Bulldogs (18-4) in the District 7 2B championship game at Merkel Sports Complex.

NWC’s Katie Coriell struck out eight.

Colfax 11, Liberty 0 (5): Harper Booth went 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs and the Bulldogs (19-4) bounced back to eliminate the fourth-seeded Lancers (15-9) in the district second-place game. Colfax’s Delaney Imler struck out eight.

Liberty reached the elimination game by knocking out Chewelah (15-10) 7-1. Kariyah Strobel went 2 for 4 with a triple and four RBIs.

District 5/6/8 tennis

Boys: Singles- Vijay Lin (Pullman) def. Kaden Giles (Selah) 6-1, 6-3. Doubles- Kolby Uhlenkott/Kieran Hampson (Pul) def. Addink/Van Heusden (Ephrata) 6-3, 6-2; Aditya Bose-Bandyopadhyay/ Mira Park (Pul) def. Roylance/Pruneda (Othello) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Girls: Singles- Rhoda Wang (Pul) def. Leah Lewis (Ellensburg) 6-0, 6-0; Gwyn Heim (Pul) def. Lexi Diem (Eph) 6-1, 6-2. Doubles- Lotti Wolf/Kei Bromley (Pul) def. Evenson/Addink (Eph) 7-6 (3), 6-1; Ladd/Ladd (Sel) def. Diana Gutierrez/ Lydia Nelson (Pul) 7-5, 6-4.

the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional.

The Huskies lost in the Super Regional in 2021 and last reached the College World Series in 2019.

Bellevue 7, North Idaho 6: The top-seeded Bulldogs scored four runs in the seventh inning with a homer and two RBI singles to eliminate the Cardinals (3911) in the Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament in Portland. Hayden Rockwell went 3 for 4 with two home runs batting leadoff for NIC.

Brown left complex legacy to admire with reservations

By Jerry Brewer WASHINGTON POST

Spend five minutes around Jim Brown and you would swear he was the baddest man on the planet. There was no way to prove it, of course, but you didn’t dare question the feeling, not while being near him.

Talk about presence. When he shook your hand, it felt like he was cracking open a walnut. For so much of his life, he seemed to age without weakening, an enduring vision of strength. Even though he spoke slowly, he commanded attention because of all the wit, insight and audacity flowing from his deep voice. He had a growl as he searched for the right words. And when he found them, he delivered his thoughts with his signature, unmistakable trait: conviction.

Brown, who died Thursday at age 87, was an immovable star. He thought he was right even when he was wrong, and he was wrong a lot – abusively wrong and unforgivably wrong at times. As a football legend, actor and civil rights activist, Brown enjoyed a life full of iconic moments, but when considering all of him, he wasn’t really an icon. He was Jim Brown. Jim. Brown. And there was little anyone could do to stop him. He was one of the 10 most important athletes to put on a jersey. It doesn’t do Brown justice to consider him only the most dominant running back in NFL history because, in college at Syracuse, he was also a lacrosse superstar in addition to lettering in basketball and track. He went to the NFL in 1957 and won three MVPs in nine record-breaking seasons with the Cleveland Browns, flashing his athletic collage of speed, power, agility and fearlessness. And then he left after the 1965 season, retiring from football officially at 30 years old, to focus on his acting career and to fight harder for African Americans seeking equality during a volatile period in American history. “I could have played longer,” Brown told Sports Illustrated of his decision, which he announced while filming “The Dirty Dozen” in London. “I wanted to play this year, but it was impossible. We’re running behind schedule shooting here, for one thing. I want more mental stimulation than I would have playing football. I want to have a hand in the struggle that is taking place in our country, and I have the opportunity to do that now. I might not a year from now.”

And that was it. Brown was done. He didn’t attempt a comeback. He didn’t entertain the idea, except for when he talked about the possibility in 1983 because Franco Harris was getting close to his rushing record. Brown was 47 at the time. Those who watched him win eight rushing titles probably wouldn’t have doubted his ability to play at that age. He was from another time, and even though the game has evolved from the run-dominant era that he owned, Brown still looks on film like the rare player who could transport to today, 60 years later, and be a premier player without overhauling his style.

At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, Brown would be a slightly smaller Derrick Henry with even more game-breaking, big-play

ability and a hand-eye coordination that also would have made him a dangerous receiving threat in a pass-happy league. Consider that Henry, in seven seasons, has three receiving touchdowns. In his nine seasons, Brown had 20. In 1962, in addition to his customary production running the football, Brown led Cleveland in receptions and receiving touchdowns. And he played on a broken toe the whole season. He did whatever he wanted on a football field.

He wanted to be just as free away from the game, and in pursuing such liberties for himself, he wanted to uplift his entire race, too. His approach was different from others’, which led to controversy when Brown embraced Donald Trump after he became president. He believed in self-empowerment and didn’t spend much energy on protest. He spoke his mind, but he tried to leverage his celebrity to persuade civic leaders to support his causes, including the AmerI-Can organization that he founded in 1988. For more than 30 years, the program has made an impact in the United States and abroad by helping gang members and prisoners recast their lives, but as Brown grew older, it became harder to fund it. Now his wife, Monique, will be left to maintain a key part of his legacy.

In a 1979 interview with The Washington Post, Brown explained his goals and how he wanted to be known.

“I was a symbol of a Black man who wanted all of my freedoms,” he said. “It’s very difficult for white America to understand that if you are part of football’s elite why you are not satisfied with recognition and good money. ... As an American citizen, I wanted the same rights as all Americans. Anyone who expected me to be overjoyed that I was doing well in football would be disappointed.”

From the famous 1967 Cleveland Summit with Muhammad Ali and several prominent Black athletes of that era to his persistence in fighting for what he believed in, Brown did plenty to challenge and better society. But he shouldn’t be remembered in the same way as Bill Russell, who died last summer. Brown’s history of domestic violence, mostly against women, tarnishes any perception of him as a hero.

He was arrested at least seven times for assault.

In 1968, police suspected that Brown had thrown his girlfriend, Eva Bohn-Chin, off his second-story balcony in Hollywood. BohnChin claimed that she fell accidentally and declined to testify, leading to the dismissal of an assault charge. Despite numerous incidents and vile accusations, Brown avoided significant jail time. This is a difficult period in which so many revolutionary sports figures are exiting the world, and in Brown’s case, parts of his life were as ugly as the bigotry he overcame. His defiance was necessary and toxic all at once. There’s ample evidence that the strength many admired in his celebrity transformed into a violent temper in private. It’s a wicked juxtaposition that makes everything about Brown, even appreciating him as a cultural figure to be reckoned with, difficult to capture.

KEENAN GRAY/FOR THE SPOKESMANREVIEW Mead’s Dezlyn Lundquist clears the bar during a pole vault at the District 8 3A championship meet at Fran Rish Stadium on Saturday.

From staff reports

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has reopened the following areas to spring chinook fishing, according to a Thursday news release.

The changes followed an update by the Technical Advisory Committee, which determined that a minimum-return expectation of 139,000 chinook salmon compared to the preseason forecast of 198,600 on Monday. “Sufficient recreational allocation” of upriver chinook remains available for the fishery.

• Columbia River from Rocky Point/Tongue Point upstream to Beacon Rock (approximately 4 miles downstream of Bonneville Dam’s Pow-

AFRICA

Continued from 12

the rainy season.

Tourism and prices hadn’t yet ramped up. Temperatures weren’t too hot, and the generally flat landscape was green and blooming.

Botswana is but a fraction of the massive African continent, which is larger than Canada, the United States and China combined.

But the stable republic stood out among the many good wildlife destinations in Africa for having the sparsest human population on the continent and the highest concentration of elephants, the largest animals walking on earth.

We relished observing elephants in the bush as they used their trunks for drinking, foraging, spraying themselves with mud, shaking nuts from trees and interacting with each other.

These complex, intelligent animals make a big impression. Safaris offer public exposure and discussion of the continued decline of the African elephant due to drought, conflicts with agriculture and poaching for ivory.

Royale Wilderness planned a custom itinerary for the diverse interests in our private party of 11.

We toured the northern half of Botswana, beginning in Nxai Pan and Makgadikgadi Pans national parks, where we began adding African bird, plant and wildlife species to our life lists at a furious pace.

The first day near a waterhole, the landscape was swarming as far as we could see with springboks, impalas, wildebeest … let’s call it a mirage of antelopes.

The next day in the same spot, the antelope species had thinned out, but there were more zebras, giraffes and elephants. The cast was constantly changing.

The guides introduced us to all sorts of natural features, such as the termite mounds that stand like tombstones across expanses of pans and savanna.

We learned that most trees and shrubs are booby trapped with thorns that make a hawthorn tree look tame.

We ate sandwiches at Baines Baobabs, a remote cluster of huge millennia-old trees made famous in an 1862 painting by explorer Thomas Baines.

Mostly we based out of comfortable rustic camps shared with a crew that supported us.

An open-to-the-stars vestibule, extending from the back of each couple’s sleeping tent, offered some privacy for the latrine that was dug into the sand in one corner.

In the other corner was a pole holding a 2-gallon bag of water for our shower.

During one transition we moved into a “glamping” compound called Camp Kalahari (tents on platforms with flush toilets).

The camp with its luxurious thatch-roofed reception and eating facility was surrounded by electric fencing to keep out elephants and other large mammals.

“You can put your clothes in a bag to be laundered, but they won’t do your underwear,” Ramsden said. “It’s a cultural thing.”

From there, our two rigs drove out and soon found our first lions. We parked within 10 feet of a female and her two yearling cubs.

Our group spent another afternoon walking with San Bushmen, who demonstrated their hunting, foraging, fire-making and survival skills as well as their traditional games and songs.

We spotlighted springhares and African wild cats during night drives, and we experienced a delightful afternoon embedded

erhouse One) in a straight line through the western tip of Pierce Island to a deadline marker on the Washington bank at Beacon Rock; including Deep River in Wahkiakum County.

That season runs until Wednesday for salmon and steelhead. The daily limit is six. Of those, up to two adults may be retained and only one may be an adult chinook salmon. All wild salmon and steelhead must be released. The minimum size for salmon is 12 inches.

• Columbia River from Beacon Rock to Bonneville Dam

That season runs until Wednesday for salmon and steelhead. The daily limit is six. Of those, two adults may be retained but only one may be an adult chinook salmon. All wild salmon and steelhead must be released.

Fishing from a vessel is prohibited. Bank angling is allowed with hand-cast lines only.

• Columbia River, from

Bonneville Dam upstream to the Tower Island power lines (approximately 6 miles below The Dalles Dam): Fishing from a vessel is prohibited. Anglers must fish from the banks with hand-cast lines until Wednesday. The same daily limit and release restrictions apply.

• From the Tower Island power lines to The Dalles Dam

That season runs to Wednesday. The same daily limit and release restrictions apply.

• From a line starting from a fishing boundary sign on the Washington north shore located approximately 1,300 feet upstream of The Dalles Dam and Lock boat ramp projected easterly across the Columbia River to a boundary sign on the Washington southern shore located approximately 200 feet above the fish ladder exit upstream to Highway 730 at the Washington/Oregon border

That season runs through Friday. The same daily limit and release restrictions apply.

Idaho salmon update

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission met Thursday and lowered the daily limit to one adult chinook salmon for the Rapid River run fishery (lower Salmon and Little Salmon rivers) which will take effect on Monday.

For the first time in nine days, chinook counts at Bonneville Dam dropped below 4,500 fish.

Chinook counts at Lower Granite Dam are starting to increase.

As a result, harvest should pick up in the Clearwater, said Joe Dupont, regional manager of fisheries at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Flows are holding steady at around 50,000 cfs in the lower Clearwater and are forecast to stay around that level for the next few days. Although these flows

are higher than average, this will concentrate fish more toward the shoreline which often increases success rates.

Washington, Idaho hunter deadlines looming

Hunters hoping to score a coveted moose tag, special elk hunt or extra deer tag are reminded to purchase their special hunt permits before the deadline expires on Wednesday.

Hunters may submit the special hunt permit applications for 2023 deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, bighorn sheep and fall turkey seasons.

Hunters with a special hunt permit gain the opportunity to hunt at special times or places authorized by that permit.

Idaho hunters hoping for a controlled hunt permit for deer, elk, pronghorn, fall bear, turkey or swan, must submit their applications by June 5.

with a mob of weasel-like meerkats.

Several times as we watched them forage, a sentry would scamper up one of our shoulders and stand tall on a head and scan the horizon for danger.

After two days, we rejoined the outfitter’s camp crew, including the cook who made our food from scratch and baked fresh bread daily over a fire. They had moved our entire camp to a site called Khumaga, where we intercepted a zebra migration estimated at roughly 20,000 animals. A dazzle of thousands could be seen at one time up and down the valley along with tons of other wildlife along the Boteti River.

We drove to the Okavango Panhandle and based for a few days in the luxury of Drotsky’s Cabins near Shakawe.

From here we launched a range of outings including self-guided walking tours for birding and boat tours to see hippos, crocs and rare birds along the Okavango River.

A day hike into the Tsodilo Hills, a national monument, led us to remnants of stone-age human activity dating back 100,000 years.

Pictographs painted on the rocks as much as 3,000 years ago

clearly depict critters such as rhinos, giraffes and antelopes. It’s a sacred place.

With the help of our two-expert guides, we recorded a whopping 310 species of birds during the trip.

Birds in Botswana are a whole new world for the first-time visitor with binoculars, from the little bee eater to the turkey-size kori bustard (the national bird) and up to the ostrich, the largest and fastest-running bird on the planet.

The birding experts among us were as keen as anyone on seeing apex predators such as leopards, but they were stimulated to giddiness one afternoon in the Okavango Delta after checking off rarities, such as the lesser jacana and the secretive Pel’s fishing owl.

We also devoted a day to crossing the border and exploring Namibia’s Mahangu National Park, where we saw critters ranging from monkeys and warthogs to antelopes, cape buffalo and, of course, more elephants.

The outfitter spared us from hours of rough driving by setting up a prop-plane flight from Shakawe to the airstrip at Khwai River Concession Area.

At this wildlife preserve bordering the more popular Chobe

National Park, we reunited with the Royale Wilderness camp crew, who welcomed us, as usual, with a chanting song, big smiles, juice and a repitched camp.

In the next four days we spent more time with now-familiar species while continuing daily to see new ones, from mongooses to leopards and more of the two dozen or so antelope species in Botswana. On two occasions, nervous starlings squawking in trees gave away the nearby locations of black mambas, one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

Jackals (similar to North American coyotes) hunted around us daily and we saw vervet monkeys, a troop of baboons, and fleeting glimpses of a wild dog pack and one honey badger.

One morning, our guides found a pride of lions moving through the bush. Anticipating their route, they drove off-road ahead of them and parked.

We could see no more than about 40 yards in any direction when the lions emerged from openings in the brush two or three at a time, walking directly at us until nine of them were drifting around the two Land Cruisers as if they were water flowing around midstream rocks.

The guides had given us strict

rules for safety in the vehicles. Don’t stand up when encountering wildlife. Stay calm and quiet. And never exit without asking. Movements and noise can trigger aggressiveness or defensiveness in animals.

Good to know at this moment … as a lioness, passing close with nothing between me and her, glanced up, her mouth open just enough to display an impressive rack of teeth.

I could see the scars and a slight limp owing to the hardknock life of high-speed chases and tackling prey with teeth, horns and flailing hooves.

She paused briefly and fixed her eyes on mine just 5 feet away. Powerful moment. Also powerful is the word “pula,” which means rain in the Setswana language. Pula also is the name for Botswana currency. As our guides explained, water is life in the Kalahari Desert, and therefore rain is revered even more than money.

Nearly every day at sunset, the guides would park the two Land Cruisers at a scenic spot for the traditional “sundowner,” where we’d briefly gather at a portable mini bar before heading back to camp for showers and dinner.

(Incidentally, the sundowner originated as the quinine break British travelers would take routinely during African journeys to fend off malaria. As these breaks became more social, they trended into happy hours with biltong, a type of jerky, nuts and other snacks. Although various beverages are offered, gin and tonics are a staple at sundowners as a sentimental link to the dash of quinine that’s in tonic water.)

At one sundowner, as we toasted satisfying sightings of rare birds and lions in the bush, Malatsi raised his glass to mine. Instead of saying “Cheers!” he said “Pula!” in a tribute to a particularly fine day.

“We say ‘Pula!’ when we feel rich,” he said.

Legendary American wordsmith Ernest Hemingway wrote three novels specifically inspired by his safaris.

In “True at First Light,” he wrote, “I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy.”

After fulfilling a big tick off my wildlife adventure bucket list and feeling equally inspired, I will stop short of a novel and simply conclude, “Ditto.”

Safari guide Pat Malatsi quickly sets up a minibar on his Land Cruiser’s fold-down grill for a traditional “sundowner” so guests can toast another good day in the bush.

PHOTOS BY RICH LANDERS/FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

An African elephant gets a morning drink from the Boteti River in Botswana.

Columbia River salmon fishing reopens

African safari is critter lover’s dream trip

WILDLIFE IMMERSION

By Rich Landers FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Our rustic African safari camp, with chairs around a central fire pit and eating tables under a tarp canopy, was much like a group site you’d find in the forests of Washington, Idaho or Montana – except for the elephant by the tent.

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Standing 10 feet tall, weighing around 5 tons, with one of its ivory tusks inches from the canvas, the giant pachyderm stopped at the guy lines of one woman’s sleeping tent and raised its trunk in the air to sniff us out. After a 5-minute eternity, it calmly turned away to resume feeding. Our 22-day wildlife safari in Botswana had started with frank talk about safety. Maun-based outfitter Johnny Ramsden (www.royalewilderness.com) and guide Pat Malatsi had warned us to be especially alert at water’s edge to avoid dangerous encounters with hippos and crocodiles. They also emphasized that elephants, hippos, lions, leopards, hyenas, lethal snakes and other critters could show up in camp at any time, especially at night.

We had no guns or pepper spray.

“Use your headlamps to scan ahead and to the sides as you walk from the tents to the campfire or to breakfast and dinner,” Ramsden said. “If you see shining eyes, keep the beam on them. The light is your shield. They can’t see what’s behind it, so they’ll usually turn away.

“Without a light,” he added matter-of-factly, “you’re easy prey.”

Living close to a new cast of critters is why my wife Meredith and I traveled halfway around the planet to where the sun swings east to west in

the northern sky. Nearly every morning I eagerly woke just before 5 a.m. knowing that before sunrise – as a cacophony of bird songs and critter calls grew louder with the gathering light – I was going be in an open-air Land Cruiser looking for wildlife adventure.

I hesitate to call our Botswana safari a vacation. For a wildlife enthusiast, it was like going to school for classes you’ve dreamed about since childhood.

North America is no slouch at providing wildlife spectacles, but Africa serves up another level of awe.

Every night we shut our eyes in the

darkness of our tents absorbing the wild sounds of owls, grunting hippos, yelping jackals, giggling hyenas, rumbling elephants, and on a few occasions the spine-chilling roar of an African lion. We went in March, near the end of

PHOTOS BY RICH LANDERS/FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

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