Publisher’s Pitch

By Dick Stephens

Hats off to these people, places and performances making golf memorable this summer in the Evergreen State

As I write this column, we’re in the dog days of summer and it's hot and beautiful!

With seaside links, amazing forests, high desert layouts, routings through vineyards and parkland settings, we golf and live in paradise.

Given that, I want to thank and tip my fedora to a few people, places and performances that have highlighted the summer here on both sides of the 2024 Solstice.

Top 10 Public Courses in Washington — the votes are in!

This issue will surely be the most-widely read one of the year as we unveil the Top 10 (actually we go as deep as 20) favorite courses in our state.

My first kudos go out to the hundreds of golfers who cast their votes in June and July — this time via our new online balloting system that worked beautifully. There were thousands of category votes to count and this year we wanted to put some focus on the not just the overall winner, but regional winners, too.

My second kudos go to Chambers Bay, our repeat winner for Best Public Course 2024. This place just gets better with age thanks to the vast improvements, leadership and a timeless Robert Trent Jones Jr. design. I won’t spoil the fun — enjoy the results and surprises this issue.

Sahalee and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship glimmered for all to see

Enjoy our brief tournament coverage on page 6 and congratulations to South Korea’s Amy Yang who beat the best on a challenging course. Her seven-under-par result yielded one the biggest paydays on the LPGA Tour at $1.56 million — part of an overall $10.4 million purse.

The PGA of America put on a very polished event. It was our honor to play our part in getting the word out in the magazine and at the Seattle Golf Show.

Sahalee was immaculate with pristine conditions and perfect stadium setups. NBC’s broadcast was postcard pretty, and added to the club’s amazing history in hosting past Men’s and Women’s PGA Championships, the NEC World Golf Championship and the U.S. Senior Open.

Chambers Bay or Sahalee deserves another shot at a major soon.

Greg Bodine shines at the U.S. Open

He’s not only a great client and insider to this magazine and the Seattle Golf Show, but Greg Bodine has been a good friend to us over the years. The co-owner of Evergreen Golf Club with local football legend Jermaine Kearse, has made a name for himself as a longtime professional caddie on the PGA Tour. He really shot to prominence being Tony Finau’s bag man for several years.

Then, by introduction of mutual acquaintances not long ago, Bodine took a meeting at a Starbucks with PGA Tour top man turned LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau, who was looking for a compatriot to take his bag. One thing led to another, and the two just clicked. DeChambeau at the time was already an accomplished PGA Tour veteran and a newly minted main attraction with LIV — taking the big bucks as he went all in.

Before Bodine took his bag, The Scientist won a U.S. Open, a handful of Tour events here and in Europe, was part of winning Ryder Cup and Walker Cup teams and won the NCAA Championship and U.S. Amateur in the same year — a feat only done by Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

One could argue, he’d claimed a Captain America status already. But something was missing from his allure and balance in the last couple years and from my seat, it seems that Bodine was the elixir. He struck a balance with Bryson and became not just a great caddie but perhaps a life rudder to a steamship of an athlete that few could partner with — and guide.

To see Bodine get the USGA’s caddie medal on live international TV, hear DeChambeau sing his praises and then he himself give interviews on his recent ascension to the top of the pro golfing world really slammed an exclamation point on the statement that good things happen to great people. The Tacoma native is just that.

Kudos to you Greg for your belief in yourself and here’s to many more. And, by the way, enjoy Tony Dear’s Post Game viewpoints on Bryson in the back of this issue. Here’s to all of us — enjoy the end of summer, and AS ALWAYS, TAKE IT EASY!