Pod for the Course

The first Washington Women’s Amateur Championship was held in 1994 at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way. Caroline Speigelberg (now Matelski), who at the time was playing on the University of Washington women’s golf team, had set a goal of having her name be the first one engraved on the new trophy – and she came away with a two-shot victory. After college, she played professionally for a couple years, but soon regained her amateur status and, admittedly burned out, eventually stopped playing altogether. In February of this year, she picked up the game again as a way of spending time with her daughter, who was showing interest in the game. Caroline is all-in again, playing in the 2021 Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur along with several other tournaments, all with a new attitude and enjoyment for the game. 

Cathy Kim was recently named one of Golf Digest’s “Best Young Teachers” for 2021-22. She is a dual member of the PGA of America and the LPGA. She attended Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash. and then received a full-ride scholarship to attend Western Washington University, where she played four years on the women’s golf team (2005-2008). During her collegiate years, she played in two Washington Women’s Amateurs. She has worked as an instructor at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish and TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, and is currently at the 1757 Golf Club in Dulles, Virginia. 

In 2018, she was named a “Top 50 Teacher” by U.S. Kids Golf. Visit CathyKimGolf.com for more information. 

Originally from Caldwell, Idaho, Gabby Lemieux is a three-time Idaho Women’s State Amateur champion who won four individual titles while playing on the women’s golf team at Texas Tech University, where she was named the 2016 Player of the Year in the Big 12 Conference and was the No. 1-ranked player in the country. Now making her way as a professional on the Symetra Tour, which is the developmental tour for the LPGA, Gabby will be playing in the Circling Raven Championship on Aug. 27-29 in Worley, Idaho. Circling Raven is owned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and with Gabby being of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, she feels fortunate to be playing in front of family and friends. 

At age nine, Notah asked the head pro at the local muni in Albuquerque, N.M. for a job. He worked for free in exchange for the chance to practice and play at the course (“I was a bad negotiator.”). A full-blooded Native American (Navajo, San Felipe, Isleta), he soon became the No. 1-ranked junior player in the country, and earned a golf scholarship to Stanford University, where his team won an NCAA national title, and was a teammate of Tiger Woods. Notah won four times on the PGA Tour, then became a TV commentator for golf tournaments. In 2005, he established the Notah Begay III Foundation, which provides health and wellness education to Native American youth. In 2020, he started the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship (NJGC.org), providing playing opportunities for kids of all abilities. Last year’s champion, Allyn Stephens, has earned an exemption into the 2021 Circling Raven Championship, a Symetra Tour event. 

Prior to founding Vision Marketing in 1997, Tom was the assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions at Michigan State University Athletics and marketing director at Washington State University Athletics. He and his wife Karen are the owners and producers of the Spokane Golf & Travel Show and Boise Golf & Travel Show, and have continued to find creative ways in conducting their events in challenging circumstances, finding a way forward.

Since 2010, Bryan has worked at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. in a variety of capacities, and now is the director of on-course services at the municipal course on the shores of Puget Sound. Specifically, he is the facility’s caddie master, managing the fleet of caddies who service the walking-only course. He talks of his own love of working as a caddie, of his experience of caddying for Adam Scott while practicing for the 2015 U.S. Open, of helping young kids learn to be a caddie and possibly earn an Evans Caddie Scholarship, and also of the retirees who have combined their love of the game and new-found freedom to make their golden years truly golden while working as a caddie.

Since 2013 Victoria Fallgren has been the assistant coach for the women’s golf team at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. Prior to that she played four years on the Gonzaga team. She has won the Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship three times (2017, 2018, 2020) and was twice named the Washington Golf Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2017, 2018). She has qualified for three U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and two U.S. Women’s Amateurs. She talks with us about how she keeps her own game sharp, and how she works with her players in improving their games.

Josh Williams is the general manager of Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine, Wash. The course is located five miles south of the U.S.-Canada border, and since March 21, 2020 that border has been closed to “non-essential” travel because of COVID-19, which means no British Columbia golfers are allowed to come down and play any of the many courses in Washington. Josh talks about the impact of this on his and other area courses, and what they’re doing to adjust.

A Cougar through and through, Dustin White returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in the January of 2014 and was named the Washington State men’s golf head coach prior to the 2016-17 season. White was a standout player for the Cougars golf team from 1999-2003. He was a three-time All-Pac-10 selection, including a first team honoree in 2002. As a professional, he was a winner on the Gateway Tour in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and competed on the Nationwide Tour in 2005, 2009 and 2010. His career highlight came when he qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open. He is married to former WSU women’s golfer, and current women’s golf assistant coach, Emma Betland White. 

Zac has been at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. since 2007. He served as their Assistant PGA Professional from 2007-2015, then as the facility’s sales and marketing manager for a year and a half, then director of marketing for a year before adding “assistant general manager” to his title. He took over as general manager in November 2018. The club has been the site of the 2010 U.S. Amateur, 2015 U.S. Open, and, along with numerous other local and regional championships (including the 2017 Pacific Coast Amateur), hosted the 2013 Washington Men’s Amateur, which it will host again August 11-13, 2020.