Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/84869
Boeing Classic By Seth Kolloen Above: The 18th fairway on Saturday. Below: Winner Jay Don Blake tees off as his wife, who was also his caddy, looks on. Kiss and tell at the Boeing Classic T This year's event provides thrilling finish and fun story lines he scenery of the Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge may be beautiful, but the first shot I see sure isn't. Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion, stands stiffly over his ball, takes a backswing that goes barely over his knees, and awkwardly whips his tee shot. Ugly. But effective. The ball flies 250 yards down the middle of the fairway. "Did you see that backswing?" marvels an older gentleman next to me. "I think I have a new hero." he hits a modest drive and squints into the distance. Then he turns to a teenage boy in the gallery. "Did you see where the ball went? You've got better eyes than I do." Next up, 6-foot-3, 210-pound Jeff Freeman unleashes a mighty drive, 300 yards straight down the fairway. As the ball leaves his club I hear two sounds—the ball whistling and everyone around me saying "whoa." At the 18th hole, I meet up with WAC When the Boeing Classic, a WAC Community Partner that raises money for Benaroya Research Institute, isn't making new heroes, it's giving you a chance to see old ones. After Lyle's drive, I'm ready to see some longer ones from the legends on the Champions Tour. As I amble down to the 529-yard eighth hole, a tournament volunteer asks me to stand still while the golfers hit their approach shots. "Don't make me tase you," he says with a smile. More than a thousand volunteers, some of them WAC members, staff the tournament every year. They keep the fairways clear and the crowds quiet. In exchange, they get an intimate view of excellent golf. Spectators can get pretty close, too. Behind the eighth tee, I position myself at the rope. I'm standing gimme-putt distance from three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin as 24 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | OCTOBER 2012 Vice President Athletics Wayne Milner. The WAC's representative on the tournament committee is sitting on the grass near the green, watching the pros handle a hole he's played many times. you've been watching for 30, 40 years," he tells me. Of course, golf wouldn't be any fun if the biggest names "It's fun to come out here and see guys won every tournament. The $300,000 first prize comes down to a sudden-death playoff between Mark O'Meara, who won the 1998 Masters and British Open, and Jay Don Blake, who 10 years earlier won the slightly less prestigious Utah Open. Blake's caddy at the Boeing Classic? His wife. I squeeze in among the spectators just in time to witness Blake sink the tournament-winning putt. Moments later, he becomes the first golfer I've ever seen kiss his caddy on the mouth. Yep, another historic day on Snoqualmie Ridge. Seth Kolloen is a Seattle-based freelance writer. LUKE RUTAN (2)