PORTLAND — Spencer Tibbits was the most confident man at Portland Golf Club this week.
He had no reason not to be. Just days after teeing it up against the top golfers in the world at Pebble Beach, he was the overwhelming favorite at the Oregon Amateur Championship. And he played every bit the part.
After taking the top seed out of 36-hole stroke play, Tibbits torched his opponents in match play.
The Fort Vancouver High graduate led in 89 of the 98 match-play holes he competed in, tallying just four bogeys and losing just 10 holes in six rounds of match play. He didn’t record a single bogey on Saturday, taking down Camas High School graduate Daniel Snoey 8 and 6 in a 36-hole contest.
“I just have a different strategy in match play,” Tibbits said. “I’m not as aggressive on the greens just to ensure me not losing a hole. Losing holes are so key. If you can get a lead in match play, it’s the biggest thing in the world.”
The fact he only had to play 134 of the potential 162 this week was also key in lifting the Oregon Amateur title after a runner-up finish last year.
An exhausting week followed a long journey at the U.S. Open, in which Tibbits finished just one off the cut line. Had he made the weekend at Pebble, he probably wouldn’t have competed in Portland.
“When you’re competing, it’s extremely exhausting mentally,” Tibbits said. “Going through every single shot making sure you’re walking through everything you need to do in order to hit a good shot, you can’t even imagine. The things I think about before every shot is very, very exhausting. But it’s something you have to do in order to compete in golf tournaments.”
While Tibbits was busy throwing darts at pins and bombing drives down the fairway, Snoey did his best to keep up.
The 2009 Class 3A high school state champion didn’t expect to be competing on the final day entering the week. He’s a self-described “weekend warrior.” His day job — he has one unlike many of the collegiate golfers that dotted the field this week — is as a real estate mortgage broker.
It was abundantly clear from the get-go Saturday — after Tibbits, who stands a half foot taller, out-drove the former University of Portland golfer by 30 yards on the opening hole — who the favorite was.
“I played really well all week, came out here and hit a lot of good shots today,” Snoey said. “Hats off to Spencer. Great player, really great kid. I had a really good time out there with him and wish him the best of luck out there.”
Clark County has dominated the Oregon Amateur in recent memory, with Camas graduate and Boise State golfer Brian Humphries finishing as a runner-up in 2017 and 2016, and Union graduate Alistair Docherty winning in 2015.
“We have a lot of good people coming out of the high schools and junior circuit where we’re from,” Snoey said. “Spencer is a testimonial to all of it, because he’s playing in the Open and stuff. But we work hard.”
Snoey, to his credit, had some brilliant shots Saturday. He made a 40-foot breaking putt on the par 4 ninth hole for birdie, and then nearly drained an eagle on the same hole from 120 yards when his ball missed rolling into the cup by an inch.
But a three-putt bogey on the opening hole put him 1-down and Tibbits stepped on the gas pedal from there, going 2-under through the first 18 holes.
Meanwhile, Snoey four-putted three times in the morning 18, and Tibbits was 3-up at the break. Another three-putt bogey for Snoey on the first made it 4-up Tibbits, and the writing was on the wall at that point.
Tibbits drilled an iron to 4 feet on the downhill par 3 12th, and soon after, the two were shaking hands.
“I felt like I was the best player here pretty easily,” Tibbits said. “It’s cool for (Snoey) to make the final, but I didn’t think about it all. It was just another person I had to go through to get a win.”
Tibbits has plenty of elite amateur competitions lined up this summer, before returning for his junior season at Oregon State.
Snoey will “celebrate a little” his second-place finish Saturday night, and continue to compete in local amateur events and keeping his game in tune on the weekends.
