Golf Notebook -- Fought's Next Course Design: UW-Themed Layout In Auburn

The architect for the Washington National golf complex near Auburn has set high goals.

John Fought recently said he is designing the 36-hole layout with an eye toward it eventually becoming a U.S. Open site.

Fought designed the recently opened Trophy Lake course and worked with Bob Cupp in the design of the Pumpkin Ridge complex near Portland and Crosswater in Bend, Ore. He calls the 500-acre Washington National site "a beautiful piece of property."

The first 18-hole course at Washington National is scheduled to open next summer. The second 18 will open in 2001. Washington National will have a University of Washington theme and be the home course of the Huskies. It will be owned and managed by OB Sports.

Fought was 1997 U.S. Amateur champion and a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.

TIGER ON GRIFFEY

Tiger Woods on Ken Griffey Jr., his neighbor in the gated community of Isleworth in Florida, as reported in ESPN The Magazine:

ESPN: You and Mark O'Meara and Ken Griffey Jr. get together to play a round at Isleworth. Does O'Meara talk a lot of junk?

Woods: "Not really, but he can get it going a little bit sometimes. Not like Junior."

ESPN: Junior talks?

Woods: "Junior has been known to try to get under your skin."

ESPN: He can smack a ball.

Woods: "Strong. Very strong. He hits it a long way."

ESPN: Can he out-drive you sometimes?

Woods: "Yeah, he can, actually."

ESPN: Does that bug you?

Woods: "Nah, because I know I can beat him. Then again, I can't hit home runs."

HERE AND THERE

Vicky Strada, the ex-Stanford golfer from Grays Harbor County who finished sixth in the 1996 NCAA championships, played in her second U.S. Open in three years this month but missed the cut. Strada is playing the Futures Tour and will take her third crack at the LPGA Qualifying School later this year.

While at Aberdeen High School, she won the state AA high-school title and state junior golf title.

-- Arrangements are in the works for a made-for-TV match pitting Fred Couples against the best ball of retired superstars Michael Jordan, John Elway and Wayne Gretzky. Jordan has a 2 handicap, Elway plays near scratch and Gretzky is a 12.

-- The Toyota Golf Skills Challenge will be July 8-11 at Taylor Creek Golf Course in Maple Valley. The test involves a long drive, short iron, trouble shot, greenside bunker, mid-iron shot, chip shot, pitch over a hazard and putting. The entry fee is $30. For information, call 1-800-932-8337.

-- Bruce Evans of Bellevue won the Remax Long Drive Qualifier Sunday at Taylor Creek with a drive of 369 yards. He beat Brad Habenicht of Maple Valley by 1 yard. Kevin Osborn of Bellevue was third at 366.

-- The American Junior Golf Association, which draws many of the nation's top junior golfers to its tournaments throughout the country, will hold its first tourney in Washington Monday through Thursday at Trophy Lake Golf and Casting Club in Port Orchard. The tournament, the Compaq Junior Championship, will feature 84 golfers from 16 states and Canada, including 43 from Washington.

-- Bill Sander, the Shorecrest High School grad who won the 1976 U.S. Amateur at age 20 and later played on the PGA Tour, sometimes caddies in Tour events. Among the bags he packs is that of Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion. Sander has lived in Florida for years.

-- The woods are getting crowded with charity golf tournaments, but one that has been around six years is the Detlef Schrempf Celebrity Golf Classic that will be played July 28 at McCormick Woods in Port Orchard. Among the NBA players expected to compete are Vin Baker, Dale Ellis, Don MacLean, Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel. Schrempf also will host an auction, dinner and dance at the Seattle Sheraton on June 26, beginning at 5 p.m. Among the charities who benefit are Boyer Children's Clinic, Rise and Shine and First Place.