Redmond pro Valley wins Grays Harbor Pro-Am

With an impressive display of power and touch, Redmond pro Kurt Valley treated himself to an early birthday present in the Don Scott Memorial Grays Harbor Pro-Am golf tournament.

Valley, who turned 30 on Monday, fired a final-round 65 on Sunday at Grays Harbor Country Club to run away with the Pro-Am championship.

A Michigan native who has played occasionally on the PGA’s Web.com Tour, Valley finished with a 36-hole total of eight-under-par 132 and a five-stroke victory over newly-crowned Northwest Open champion Shane Prante of Spanaway.

Chris Bae, a two-handicapper from Tacoma, was the low amateur at 138. Grays Harbor native Jon Parker Jr. took net amateur honors and also was a member of the winning team, which included Jeff Parker, Carl Waara and Denny Bemis. Mark Olson of the Seattle area won the Senior Pro division.

Recent Hoquiam High graduate John Sand, the first-round leader with a 66, twice ran afoul of the eighth hole at the nine-hole country club on Sunday and shot a closing 74 to finish at 140.

Valley, who moved to the Northwest three years ago, was making his Pro-Am debut. In the wake of this weekend’s showing, he laughingly pledged to return next year.

“I hit cuts, fade the ball, so the course sets up great for me,” he said. Virtually all of the trouble at the country club is to the left of the fairways.

Twice driving green-high on the 329-yard par-4 second hole, Valley ranked as one of the tourney’s longest hitters. But he also sank several critical putts in the 10 to 20-foot range.

Valley said the biggest was a 15-footer that he canned on the par-5 fifth hole, his third of the day on the shotgun start. That touched off a run of three consecutive birdies.

“That was huge,” he said. “That got it started.”

A 10-foot birdie putt on his 15th hole (the seventh at GHCC) lifted Valley to eight-under for the tournament. He three-putted the eighth from eight feet for a bogey, but saved par from out of a bunker on the ninth. He then reached the par-5 first with a 5-iron approach and two-putted for his seventh and final birdie of the round.

Both of Valley’s bogeys came on the eighth, a seemingly inoffensive 346-yard par-4 with out-of-bounds on the left. But if that hole was a nuisance for Valley, it was toxic for Sand.

Only four days away from departing for Denver University, the young Hoquiamite began the final round well by sandwiching three birdies around a bogey in his first five holes. That included a brilliant pitch-and-run from beneath a tree that produced a tap-in birdie on his first hole of the day.

Standing at five-under for the tournament when he played the eighth for the first time, Sand saw his hooking drive land in the left-center of the fairway but take a huge hop to the left and skitter out-of-bounds. That cost him a double-bogey.

Sand later batted two similar drives OB the second time he played the eighth, this time making a quintuple-bogey nine.

“I hit basically the same drives and they kicked straight left and went OB,” he related. “Other than that, it wasn’t a bad day.”

Prante, whose parents are Elma High School graduates, was unable to convert several good birdie opportunities in carding an even-par 70 on Sunday.

He admittedly was running somewhat on fumes, having won the Northwest Open on Wednesday in Walla Walla.

“I’m tired, but I like playing down here,” said the 2014 Pro-Am champ. “I enjoy the course.”

Sixty-nine-year-old Fritz Bramstedt, of the host club, teamed with Jeff Taylor to win Friday’s “horse race.”

The tourney was re-named this year in memory of former GHCC manager (and three-time Pro-Am champion) Don Scott, who died late last year.

Pros: Kurt Valley 132, Shane Prante 137, James Feutz 138. Senior Pros: Mark Olson 141, Jerry Johnson 145, Gordy Graybeal 145, Kris Runge 146, Brian Davis 146.

Gross Amateur: Chris Bae 138, John Sand 140, Brandon Peterson 148, Jay Dotson 148, Jeff Taylor 149. Net Amateur: Jon Parker Jr. 129, Jim Bunch 134, Steve Natwick 136, Mike Sand 136, Steve Solan 136.

Team: Jon Parker Jr-Jeff Parker-Carl Waara-Denny Bemis 232, Kurt Valley-Alex Nelson-Steve Natwick-Bill Quigg 236, John Sand-Mike Sand-Nelson Papp-Eric Snell 237, Gordy Graybeal-Steve Solan-Dave Rathbun-Larry Dublanko 244, Don Mojean-Dave Achziger-Brandon Peterson-Dino Blackburn 247.