OSAA 5A State Golf Tournament—Day 2 Monday, May 19, 2008

Sloan Tennant of Pendleton High School puts his ball up on the second green May 13 at the 5A state golf tournament in Corvallis. The sophomore had a combined score of 163 to finish tied for 35th.

Things are getting a bit out of order here, so if you're trying to get the chronology straight, I was in Ohio first, then immediately turned around and went to Corvallis, Ore., for the golf tournament. I blogged about Day 1 of the golf a few days ago.

The weather wasn't as nice on Day 2, but at least it didn't rain. Here are some of my favorite images from that day.

[below, left] Pendleton junior Kordd Thornton follows his approach shot on the ninth hole. [below, right] Bend's Andrew Vijarro pumps his fist after birdying the ninth hole at Trysting Tree. Vijarro and Nick Sherwood of West Albany tied for first with two-day scores of 143. A strong second day by West Albany put them first as a team. The Lava Bears were fourth.

You don't see a lot of photos of fairway shots, partly because you don't know exactly where the players will be. As I found out, it's also a bit more dangerous.

On this hole (left) the drives usually land near the top of a little hill right beside a huge tree, so I parked myself there. For the first group I photographed going through that hole, one of the guys I wasn't shooting ended up a bit short—on the right side of the fairway, but at the bottom of the swale, about 30 yards from me. Since the hole heads a little left from there, I figured I was pretty safe standing right up against the tree. I watched as he played his wood, and saw the ball coming straight at me. Yikes! I ducked as it whistled through the branches about 10 or 15 feet from where I had been.

The kid was cool, though, and apologized for sending the ball at me. I told him not to sweat it, it was my fault for standing there.

[left] Sloan Tennant of Pendleton High School winces as his chip shot narrowly missed the cup on the ninth green. (The Pendleton team started on the 10th hole on day 2 of the tournament, so this was his last hole.) [right] Bend's Andrew Vijarro reacts after narrowly missing his par putt on the 18. I don't think he knew it at the time, but he would have won the tournament if he'd made that putt.