The warm temperatures under sunny blue skies mixed with the pristine conditions at Royal Oaks Country Club masked the mayhem the inaugural Clark County Cup golf tournament was creating.
There were teammates on the same high school boys golf team playing on different teams.
There were Titans and Papermakers playing on the same team.
Mayhem!
Actually, it was all part of the plan of tournament director Chris Harlow.
“It’s been my hope that you enjoyed today,” Harlow told the players. “We had a beautiful day. Gosh, it was 80 degrees out here. … You got to play Royal Oaks, which is in my opinion the best course in the Pacific Northwest. Yeah, you might have three-putted a hole or two, but that’s OK. I hope you made a friend.”
That was the whole idea in the inaugural event that took the best high school golfers in Clark County and put them together on teams with players from other schools.
The idea was born out of the U.S. Kids World Golf Championship, which Harlow had attended with his son, Christian, for several years. That event has the Van Horn Cup, a best-ball tournament that brings together the best players from around the world.
“We saw friendships being made,” Harlow said of the Van Horn Cup. “We saw partnerships with players from one state to another, from one country to another. They were on the same team, rooting on each other, becoming friends, having camaraderie. And I just thought ‘This has to come to Clark County, Washington.’ ”
Harlow spent the past three months organizing Monday’s event with King’s Way Christian coach Greg Railsback.
And Harlow and Railsback accomplished their goal.
In the final group of Monday’s event, Mountain View senior Grady Millar teamed up with Seton Catholic senior Jacob Parker as part of the Blue team. They faced off against Mountain View senior Spencer Moody and King’s Way Christian eighth-grader Christian Harlow.
But they all came away winners, just from the experience.
“We know a lot of kids from playing in tournaments in the area,” Moody said. “We don’t get to play with them normally in high school (golf), but this was a fun opportunity to be able to hang out with some friends and play some fun golf.”
The format brought together the top two golfers from 11 different high school teams who met minimum scoring requirements.
And while Millar and Moody represented Mountain View, they did get some of their Thunder teammates involved by serving as their caddies.
“For those of you have come to watch, I hope you saw something that may have sparked something in you that said ‘You know, I want to make the Clark County Cup next year,” Chris Harlow told the players.
The biggest carrot for many players was the opportunity to play a round at Royal Oaks.
“This was just a great opportunity to play a course that most people wouldn’t have the opportunity to play,” Moody said.
Moody and Millar had a bit of home-course advantage on the other high school players on Monday.
“This is both of our home course,” Millar said. “We both have the junior scholarship here. We are both very thankful for what they do for us, and how they supply us with this great place to play.”
For other players, Monday’s 18-hole round was a bit of an eye-opener.
“I think there are a lot of kids here today learning what it’s like to play an elite-level golf course,” Ridgefield coach Bob Ball said.
Railsback said he got his first chance to play at Royal Oaks as a high school golfer in 1990.
“I knew that the first time I stepped on this property I knew that someday I was going to be a member here,” he said. “And next spring will be 20 years that I’ve been a member here. And I know there are some future Royal Oaks members here today who were inspired.”
For the record, Moody’s Team Green won 4-2, and Millar was the medalist on the day, shooting a 3-under-par 69. That earned Millar an exemption into next June’s Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament.
But really, Monday was about having fun with the fall high school season quickly winding down.
“Especially with this being our last year, this was a great way to bookend the season,” Moody said. “It was great to come out and play and then get ready to compete at districts next week.”
