23-year GCSAA Class A member has added tees and native grasses for tougher test Finlen has Olympic Club ready for U.S. Amateur There’s a new look at one of the nation’s oldest and most revered golf venues as the 2007 U.S. Amateur Championship approaches (Aug. 20-26). Since the USGA last held championships at San Francisco’s Olympic Club (2004 U.S. Junior Amateur, 1998 U.S. Open), a significant amount of brush and trees have been removed, opening up the famed golf course and allowing golfers an improved view of the varied topography.
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Certified Golf Course Superintendent Pat Finlen, director of golf course maintenance operations, has added tee extensions to four holes on the Lake Course and native grasses to the Ocean Course, toughening up The Olympic Club. For more details on his preparations for the event, read the Front Nine story in the August issue of Golf Course Management.
The U.S. Amateur consists of two qualifying rounds of stroke play, played over two days on both courses and narrowing the field of participants to 64, who play a single-elimination match play tournament over five days on the Lake Course. Each round consists of 18 holes until the final round, which is 36 holes. Finlen will rely heavily on seasoned staff members Brian Koffler, GCSAA superintendent at the Lake Course, and Zach Ohsann, GCSAA superintendent at the Ocean Course.
A 23-year GCSAA member, Finlen has been at The Olympic Club since 2002. Previously, he served as director of golf course maintenance at Bayonet & Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, Calif., golf course and grounds manager at Quivira Lake & Country Club in Lake Quivira, Kan., and superintendent at Cypress Point Country Club in Virginia Beach, Va. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Mo.
Finlen is serving the second year of a two-year term as a GCSAA director after being elected to the board at the association’s 2006 annual meeting in Atlanta. He is a member and past president of both the California GCSA and the GCSA of Northern California. He is also a past president of the Heart of America GCSA, based in Kansas City.
The Olympic Club is the nation’s oldest athletic club (est. 1860). Located in southwest San Francisco, its 45 holes of championship golf on 365 acres of rolling hills between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean have hosted multiple USGA championships, including four U.S. Opens and two other U.S. Amateurs, plus numerous PGA Tour events. Finlen and The Olympic Club will host the U.S. Open again in 2012.
The Lake Course will play at par 70, 6,929 yards for this U.S. Amateur and the Ocean Course will play at par 70, 6,786 yards. The Olympic Club is a sand-based course with push-up greens constructed with native sand. It features excellent drainage, a bentgrass/ ryegrass/Poa annua mixture on the tees and fairways, a bluegrass/ ryegrass mixture in the rough and Poa annua greens that measure 11.6 on the stimpmeter.
GCSAA is a leading golf organization and has as its focus golf course management. Since 1926, GCSAA has been the top professional association for the men and women who manage golf courses in the United States and worldwide. From its headquarters in Lawrence, Kan., the association provides education, information and representation to more than 21,000 members in more than 72 countries. GCSAA’s mission is to serve its members, advance their profession and enhance the enjoyment, growth and vitality of the game of golf. The association’s philanthropic organization, The Environmental Institute for Golf, works to strengthen the compatibility of golf with the natural environment through research grants, support for education programs and outreach efforts. Visit GCSAA at www.gcsaa.org.
Contact:
Jeff Bollig, GCSAA director of communications 800-472-7878, ext. 4430 or jbollig@gcsaa.org
