Challenge awaits returning champs at SOGC

Sep. 1—Johnna Nealy knows her Southern Oregon Golf Championships history as much as just about anyone.

The Grants Pass native has been either playing or attending the annual golf tournament at Rogue Valley Country Club dating back off and on to, well, more years than she probably wants anyone to do the math on.

It's that sense of history that allows Nealy to appreciate the possibilities this week as she seeks to defend her women's championship and potentially take another step toward tournament lore.

The 93rd annual SOGC begins match play Thursday and wraps up with championship matches Monday.

With four SOGC women's titles under her belt, the former University of Oregon standout could move into a tie with Sybil O'Bryne for the second-most championships. O'Bryne won all five of her titles in a row from 1987-91, with Helen Davis and Ann Swanson setting the overall standard at six women's championships apiece.

"It would be pretty special," Nealy, 39, said of securing a fifth title. "It's always nice to be playing in the same tournament as my sister (Amanda), and just the atmosphere and the amazing job they do here makes it fun. It's not like it's the last one I'm going to play in, but a fifth one would be nice."

A fifth one also won't come easy for Nealy, whose titles have been secured in 2001, 2006, 2019 and 2021. Older sister Amanda Nealy won women's titles in 1992 and 2000, and the field includes former women's champions Trina Jones (2008, 2018), Stephanie Johns (2009), Kelly Loeb (2010, 2011) and Terry Levis (2013).

"It's anyone's tournament this year, and that makes it fun," she said during a pause in Wednesday's seeding round.

There are 408 players overall in this year's tournament — eight shy of full capacity due to a shortage in the junior-senior men's entries. All but one champion returns, with Chris Polski (men), Kevin Klabunde (senior men), Glen Clark (super senior men) and Dan Dixon (legends) also beginning their title defense Thursday.

Polski also won the SOGC in 2015, while Klabunde has earned a dozen titles in three divisions in hot pursuit of George Mack's record of 15 total titles. Clark won his first super senior title a year ago but boasts junior-senior (2008) and men's senior (2014, 2017) titles on his resume, while Dixon also previously won a super senior crown in 2014.

"Quality-wise, the field is going to be strong," said Tracy Snyder, RVCC head golf pro. "It's such a great week and such a great format in the match play, I think people enjoy coming back."

"Quite a few of them have ties back to Medford in some way with family or work or having just been introduced to it through friends," he added, "and they look forward to it every year."

Michael Stieler in the junior-senior division is not back to defend his title, but the competition will be fierce as past SOGC champion Johnny Mansfield served notice with sizzling qualifying round of 69.

The top qualifying rounds posted this week were by Dan Engle (68) in the men's regular and Rick Dollarhide (68) in the men's senior.

Fresh off her win in the Rogue Valley Stroke Play Championships, Central Point's Kiana Oshiro capped her first qualifying run in the SOGC with a 4-under-par 69.

Oshiro finished 12 strokes ahead of Johnna Nealy this past weekend at Centennial Golf Club in winning the City Championships and will be making her SOGC debut.

"The women's division will be tough with Kiana playing it this year for the first time and, of course, with Johnna coming back," Snyder said. "I think that's going to be fun to watch her and Johnna and some other really good players."

Nealy said she welcomed seeing such a strong field for this year's event.

"I think it's fantastic," she said. "It's just great to see the women's field be so strong, especially the younger generation coming up. Kiana's definitely legit, she has the all-around game ... she's long off the tee and can chip and putt, and it's just fun to watch and be a part of it."

Johns qualified with a 72, followed closely by 2018 senior women's champion Marla Parmele and Jones, who each shot 74, and Levis (77).

Snyder said he thinks the RVCC course is playing a little tougher this year, and expected hot temperatures through the weekend could up that ante.

"We had a good spring so it's been a little bit softer going into the tournament than it normally is," Snyder said, "so it plays a little bit longer than it normally is and the rough is a little bit thicker. But it's drying out as the week goes so we'll see."

Southern Oregon Golf Championships

Qualifying Results at RVCC

MEN'S REGULAR

Dan Engle 68, Michael Leonard 69, Jimmy White 70, Danny Angelucci 70, Messiah Gilbert 71, Travis Campoy 71, Chris Polski 72, Max Davis 73, Samuel Cox 74, Jon Robinson 74, Mark Wilson 74, Marcus Idiart 75, gerry Snyder 76, Alex Forristal 77, Ethan DeVore 78, Ryan Suvoy 78, Cameron Smith 78, Tyler Marcotte 79, Patrick Corey 79, Cooper Clark 79, Benjamin Purtzer 79, Peyton Lindbloom 79, Daniel Quinn 80, Chris Wood 80, Edward Smith 80, Mike Neito 81, Jordan Jenkins 81, Cody Stover 81, Casey Swendiman 82, Christopher Ellis 82, Matthew Cuellar 82, TJ Weidrich 82, Jordan Anderson 83, Jacob Gooding 83, Tyler Elliot 83, Richard Ferguson 83, Blake Boutwell 83, Calvin Maready 83, Michael Brittingham 83, Ben Mertens 83, Jonathan Purtzer 84, Jordan Holcomb 84, Brian Findlay 84, Preston Luckman 84, Milan Bobek 85, Zachary Stranahan 85, Logan Artner 85, Craig Contreras 85, Colin Schoonover 85, Dalton Pfau 85, Jeshua Buchanan 86, Conner Macdonald 86, Justin Hanlin 86, Connor Couch 87, Kristopher Kaufman 87, Shawn Jewett 87, Chase Schumacher 87, Alec Williamson 87, Dallin George 88, Henry Jones 88, Kevin Biggs 88, Charlie Walker 88, Damon Price 88, Ty Neff 89, Trey Neff 89, Jeremy Mahon 89, Scott Mettler 89, Ben Running 90, Matthew Stowers 90, Mike Eastman 91, Ryan Tucker 91, Wade Fieber 91, Levi Daily 92, Collin Kruger 93, Jeremy Ross 93, Todd Nakano 94, Skylar Fuhrman 94, Ryan Pearson 94, Calvin Lewis 94, Mike Jones 94, Dylan Zarcone, Ian Norgan 95, Tag Mcfadden 95, Samuel Barr 95,Immanuel Byrne 96, Travis Sanders 97, Jacob Colmenero 97, Ty Murdock 97, Nicholas Jones 97, Scott Fieber 97, Corey O'Neill 98, Casey Gordon 98, Shawn Shumate 98, Tyler Hopkins 98, Caesar Espino 99, Ray Kos 99, Jeff Matschke 99, Shawn Webber 101, LJ Falk 102, Kelley Beck 103, Zach Bolton 105, Andrew Burton 108, Randy McElmurry 108, Michael Henry 109, Isaiah Ellis Phil Peck 110, Werner Constanza 111, Dustin Wallace 133

MEN'S JUNIOR-SENIOR

John Mansfield 69, Russell Horn 71, Tommy Smith 72, Scott Wise 74, Jeff Barry 75, Jeff Morgan 76, Justin Wise 76, Frank Baracao 78, Brandon Crosier 78, Ryan Kantor 78, Todd Couch 78, David Cuttrell 79, Bryan White 79, Brooks Gard 79, Dave Croft 80, Michael O'Connell 80, Richard Owens 80, Erik Pederson 80, Justin Azevedo 80, Craig Fox 82, James Russell 82, George McMichael 82, Michael Vanderhoff 83, Ralph Wallis 83, Aaron Jara 83, Rob Neff 83, Trevor Telford 83, Blake Stouder 83, Alan Peterson 84, Chris Bevan 84, Robin Blanks 84, Joe Arnesen 84, William Riddle 84, Adam Rezendes 85, Brian Berg 85, Darrell Flora 85, Keith Lallo 86, Brad Pederson 86, Jim Retzlaff 87, Greg Jacobs 87, Daryn Clarke 87, Ron Stranahan 87, Steve Tollefson 87, Joe Davis 88, Matthew Miller 88, Curtis Wagoner 88, Billy Burke 88, Benny Shapiro 89, Jake Rockwell 89, Scott Gephart 89, Chris Norlander 89, Jeremiah Paladino 90, Mirek Bobek 90, Eric Engelbach 90, Brian Sherrill 90, Ed Lindbloom 91, Ken Lindbloom 92, Jake Witte 92, Chad Orr 92, Caleb Martin 92, Heykel Aouriri 92, Scott Entinger 92, Josh Godfrey 92, Eric Peterson 93, Ian Powers 93, Rick Miller 93, Robert Lindbloom 94, Kevin Jones 94, Jim Corbett 95, Russ Wilson 95, Delfino Costanza 97, jack Lewis 97, Jason Miller 97, Scott Baer 98, Jad Dickson 99, Robert King 100, Chris Dufour 100, Kevin Primerano 100, Jason Rowan 101, Sascha Eiblmayr 101, James Figueroa 102, Joe Hunter 102, Kyle Jones 102, Tim Price 103, John Couch 103, Fred Paris 106, Dean Kinney 106.

MEN'S SENIOR

Rick Dollarhide 68, Kevin Dixon 73, Ross Brownlie 73, John Justin 74, Eric Artner 74, Craig Knips 74, Dan Keck 76, John Ellsworth 76, Mitch Weisberger 76, Joel Jessel 77, Todd Dixon 77, Brad Bills 77, Kevin Coffey 78, Tom Pepple 78, Brent Barr 78, Marshall Holman 78, Marty Morlan 78, Jeff Bright 78, Gary Loeb 78, Michael Finnell 78, Scott Moore 79, Patrick O'Bannon 79, Eric Austad 79, Eric Bruhn 81, John Sellers 81, Eric Hansen 81, Steve Watkins 82, David Card 82, John Buda 83, Eric Fox 84, Alex merkner 84, David Gadberry 85, Bill Cox 85, Brian Adolf 85, Mike Walker 85, jay Klemp 86, Lance Hunter 86, Jim Mansfield 87, Tom Jones 88, Dennis Richards 89, Don Schamanek 89, Randy Rupert 90, Robert Bueoy 90, Kevin Tucker 90, Eric Doolen 90, Christian Carrigan 90, David Bettencourt 90, Brian Carr 91, Phillip Heiner 93, Paul Sanderson 93, David Blake 93, Dwight Shriver 94, Greg Wojtal 96, John Rowan 97, Scott Sterton 98, Tom Mayer 99, Jim Stormo 99, David Mettler 100, Ron Pierce 101, Bob Brown 102, Craig Schmacher 102, Britton Munoz 102, Gibb Mitchell 103,

SUPER SENIOR MEN

Scott Tuttle 72, Craig Vogensen 77, Glen Hartzheim 78, Stanley Presley 78, Gary Rafferty 78, David George 79, Stewart Parmele 79, Bob Dickey 79, Jerry Eklund 79, Evan McArthur 79, Paul Reynolds 80, Chris Littleton 80, Kelly Brown 81, Pat Daggitt 81, Stan Sherer 82, Rodney Wray 84, James Overmeyer 84, Art Aviles 85, Jim Reich 86, David Bundy 86, Charles Layton 86, Gene Crawford 87, James Bacigalupi 87, Stephen Irvin 88, Brian Odell 88, Roger Peck 88, Darrell Hunt 89, Rob Staggenborg 89, Dave Shinn 89, Ronald Moore 90, Ken Weist 91, Brian Schmitz 91, Tom Powley 91, Scott Swendiman 91, Brent Orrico 91, Carl Wolfe 92, Mel Friend 93, Henry Burgone 93, Scott Mayfield 93, Gary Sterton 94, Dennie Conrad 94, Dave Perotti 95, Gary Bates 96, Michael Snyder 96, Doug Hartley 97, Ross Cooley 97, Charles Furman 98, Rich Mettler 98, Mark Fawver 98, Darrell Flora 100, Andrew Pace 101, James Garrison 101, George Parsons 101, Daniel Kosmatka 102, Wayne Schweike 104, Mark Pagan 105, Robert Adler 105, Ross Rampy 111,

LEGENDS

John Bucchino 80, Dodd Samuel 81, Dick Brekke 81, John Kruesi 82, Karl Olson 82, Jim Hatton 82, Tom Hamlin 83, John Maurer 83, Larry Garvin 83, Larry Schmaltz 84, Brooks Hodapp 84, Tom Michaels 87, Michael Goldman 88, Allen Carlson 88, John Leuthold 88, Chuck Kenney 88, Allen Carlson 88, John Leuthold 88, Gary Smith 89, Steven Welch 89, Ron Dixon 89, Bruce Wood 90, Josh Ferris 91, Dwight Samuel 91, Dean Steeves 91, Conrad Caprez 93, Patrick O'Brien 97, Rodger Campuzano 97, David Mansfield 98, Dick Entinger 98, James Barry 99, Phil Gossner 99, John Jensen 99.

WOMEN'S REGULAR

Kiana Oshiro 69, Stephanie Johns 72,Trina Jones 74, Marla Parmele 74, Terry Levis 77, Staesha Flock 78, Natalie Kinney 80, Carolyn Turner 82, Susie Hammitt 82, Amanda Nealy 83, Maureen McFaddin 83, Toni Watkins 84, Kelly Loeb 84, Genna Mettler 85, Sandy Day 85, Lindsey Crosier 87, Melinda Heiner 88, Lee Ann Loftin 89, Francie Bostwick 89, Michele Orrico 91, Mindy Cuttrell 93, Cathy Trower 93, Sue Hunter 94, Jan Hughes 95, Julia Tissen 95, Jane Conrad 96, Sharon Swartsley 97, Judy Brown 97, Teri Mayer 97, Colleen Holbert 98, Dana Carrigan 98, Tammy Harrison 99, Fawn Miller 100, Dana Powers-Clark 100, Laurel Kiichli 100, Macy Aguirre 101, Julie Schamanck 103, Shelley Fisher 104, Dana Cody 104, Sue Charley 104, Rosemary Harrington 105, Barbara Stormo 107, Leslye Reynolds 108.

Have a story idea? Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, khenry@rosebudmedia.com or via Twitter @Kris_Henry