Metzger can make it three straight as Westwood's Fourth tourney hits 50
Author’s note: This was written to appear in The Norman Transcript. Unfortunately, in the midst of a change of sports editors, though nothing’s been made clear to me, my run as a twice-a-week columnist for the section and department I led for so many years, may be over. I hope I’m wrong about that — perhaps it’s just a misunderstanding based upon faulty communication — but on the off-chance you’ve been reading me both here and there and would like to put in a good word for me (?) the main Transcript number is 405 321-1800. No expectations, of course. I appreciate every reader who finds me here. Thus, this one’s fairly Norman-centric (and golf-centric), but it’s got good stuff in it, so maybe it will translate to everybody, nonetheless. As always, thanks for reading.
Rick Parish, Westwood Park Golf Course head pro, in his office Tuesday afternoon, was asked about the hours.
Thursday, he figures, he’ll leave the course between 10 and 11 p.m. and show up again by 5:30 a.m.
Friday to Saturday, he said, won’t be quite as bad. Saturday to Sunday, though, will be and not just for him.
Pro shop hands Tyler Baumann, Gary Holm, Lonnie Burks and Brannon Besse will be on the same schedule, too. Baumann will do it even as he participates in the event.
“It’s great,” Parish said, reflecting the devotion to which he, his help and kind of the whole Norman golf community has for the annual Westwood Invitational, long the largest stroke-play golf tournament in the state.
It all began in 1976.
Yes, that makes it 50 years since Jay Colliatie claimed the original championship flight crown.
As of Tuesday evening, the tourney head count stood at 110, a good number more than last year, when three temporary greens marred the event.
“The greens are super good,” Parish said. “I mean, all of them, are super good.”
So there you go.
It’s that time again.
The course is everything it’s supposed to be, including rough that will not be mown again until early Monday morning.
Unless it’s the camaraderie, community and whole tradition of it all, the best thing about the tourney is the stories.
Here’s a few to get it started.
• Metzger seeks three straight: Jondavid Metzger, already a Westwood Invitational veteran when he graduated from Norman High in 2003, can become the championship flight’s first back-to-back-to-back winner in its half-century history.
Metzger, who teaches the game, is playing it cool.
“Just always excited for this tournament,” he said. “Never really thought about [winning three straight.] I’ve always wanted to win it once.”
That makes all kinds of sense because who can forget the ’06 event when Kelsey Cline bested Metzger in a seven-hole playoff, every hole the par 3 ninth, to win the first of his quartet (’06, ’08, ’10, ’12) of crowns.
Metzger broke through in 2023 when his (67-64-66) 13-under-par 197 total topped Christian McAllister by three strokes and followed with rounds of 63 and 64 in last year’s rain-shortened event, to best Carson Wright by two.
Giving up to 50 lessons a week, Metzger estimates he gets to play so much golf in so short a span fewer than five times a year. Mostly, he plays once a week and rarely practices.
“I have to block out a lot of thoughts that I have to talk about [when giving lessons], you know, and get back to me,” he said. “I just always look forward to knowing I get to compete once a year.”
• A little history: Though Metzger’s trying to win three straight, he’s also trying to be the first to win exactly three crowns.
As mentioned, Cline, who hasn’t been in the field for a while, has won four, as have blasts from the past Fred Lutz (’85, ’’86, ’88, ’90) and Tim Graves (’89, ’92, ’95, ’96), who haven’t entered in decades.
Two time championship flight winners include Freddie Wisdom (’98, ’00), Sam Powell (’09, ’11), J.R. Hurley (’15, ’19) and Luke Phillips (’18, ’22).
• Names of note: Beyond Metzger, other notables will tee it off in championship flight on Friday.
NHS Class of ’22 graduate Jake Hopper, who spent two years on Oklahoma’s golf team and now plays at Middle Tennessee State, is playing his very first Westwood Invitational.
Hopper’s at least the third former or then-current Sooner to appear in the field. Michael Gellerman, who’s played 131 Korn Ferry Tour events, winning one, claimed the 2013 event; Brad Dalke, who later the same summer reached the U.S. Amateur final, won the 2016 event; Andrew Magee, a four-time PGA Tour winner, lost a playoff in the 1980 event.
Also in the field are Josh Stewart, out of Norman North, who just finished his first season at the University of the Pacific; Carson Wright, an NHS product, who plays for Cameron, in Lawton; Quinn Robertson, another NHS product, who just finished a redshirt year at Oklahoma Christian; and Taylor Artman, who’s placed third twice, who played college golf at Northeastern State and Oklahoma City University, who many may remember as the best high school player in town before his 2007 graduation from Norman North, is back in the field, too.
• Keep an eye on Bruton: Norman North product Blaine Bruton, one of just a few women in the field, who’s spent time on the women’s golf teams at both Oklahoma City University and Oklahoma Christian, won the handicap adjusted fourth flight in 2023, before prevailing in third flight in a playoff last year after rounds of 72 and 74, is back with the opportunity to win three different flights in three straight years.
She’ll start in second flight this time around.
• Remembering Stucker: Being the event’s 50th anniversary, an homage will be paid to Ron Stucker, who helped get the tourney going in year one and soon became tournament director until his death in 2008.
The tribute?
Stucker knew where he wanted the pins on each of Westwood’s 18 holes, and given the length of the event that’s 54 pin placements. Well, the Stucker pins are back.
Play begins Friday morning.
Have fun.