SHORT GAME Local pros Hurt and Feenstra qualify for PGA Championship at Southern Hills
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ustin Hurt was comfortable with his 54-hole position at the PGA Professional Championship in April. The former Washington State University Cougar and, since 2014, the Head Golf Professional at Wing Point Golf & Country Club on Bainbridge Island, had opened with a superb eight-birdie 66 on the Tom Fazio-designed Foothills Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Tex. He followed it with a fine two-under 68 on Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Cliffside Course to make the cut easily, and then shot an up-and-down 73 on Foothills to complete three rounds in five-under 207. Tied for 12th heading into the final round, it looked like a solid even-par 71 would be more than good enough for him to finish among the top 20 professionals that qualified for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Okla. And, after a birdie at the 388-yard 6th, his place in the second major championship of the season looked even more assured. The breeze began to pick up, however, and suddenly Hurt started leaking oil. As the wind piled on, Hurt’s wheels started falling off. A nasty double-bogey at the
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JUNE 2022
Hurt
443-yard 7th was followed by three straight bogeys — plus-5 in four holes — and, after missing the green at the long par 4 11th, he looked at dropping another stroke to par. A fabulous chip and putt went some way to easing the pain though, and a birdie at the 275-yard 12th gave Hurt a little room to breathe again. It was hardly smooth-sailing from there to the house — he bogeyed the 14th and needed a 17-foot putt at the penultimate hole to save his par — but, with a closing par 5 on the uphill 525-yard home hole, the 33-year-old finished with a hard-fought 75 and a four-round total of one-under 282 that put him in a tie for 11th. Hurt says that over the next few days he received something like 350 congratulatory texts and 100 emails from family, friends, Wing Point members and people he’d not seen or spoken with in a long time. “I was completely overwhelmed,” he adds. “And I couldn’t be more excited to have Kyle (brother) at Southern Hills with me on the bag as he was in Texas.” Hurt vaguely remembers watching Tiger Woods win the PGA Championship there in 2007, but really he has
Feenstra
no experience on the Perry Maxwell-designed course in Tulsa, Okla. “It’ll be long and tough, of course,” he says. “But I can’t wait to get there and play against the world’s best.” Hurt will be joined in the field for the 104th PGA Championship by Broadmoor Golf Club’s Tim Feenstra, who made a superb birdie on the 72nd hole at Barton Creek to finish in a tie for 18th and then made it through the four-for-three play-off (four players tied on 283 with only three spots remaining) to qualify for his first PGA Championship in eight attempts. The 39-year-old, a 2006 graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, says he has a few contacts at Southern Hills who he’ll be tapping for knowledge. “My goal is to play the weekend,” he says, “and earn low club professional honors. I expect to soak up every second of this opportunity to play on a major stage.” Cascade Golfer wishes Hurt and Feenstra the best of luck at Southern Hills and knows that, if they play to their potential, both stand a very good chance of making it to the weekend. We’ll be watching and sending good vibes.
cascadegolfer.com
