The Northern Ohio Golf Association’s own Howard Clendenin won the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior title this week at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington.
Howard Clendenin is hard to beat off the tee. His length and accuracy have made him a powerful player in senior amateur golf – an area of the game he has taken to well over the past year. Clendenin turned 55 last June, immediately won the North & South Senior and the Senior Porter Cup in his first three months competing, and just keeps adding lines to his resume.
On Wednesday, Clendenin claimed the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior title in a close battle against Jack Larkin, a veteran player from Atlanta. Clendenin, of Akron, Ohio, led all week but played nearly flawless golf to maintain that top spot on the leaderboard at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington. Rounds of 67-66-67 left him at 16 under, one ahead of Larkin for the week.
“Ballstriking was really good – about as good as I could hit the ball and the putting was good enough,” Clendenin said in describing his play. “I missed some putts, but I made enough birdies to keep myself relatively comfortable for the three days. I never really fell behind, and I just kept grinding out there.”
Wine Valley is a links-style golf course that’s relatively open off the tee, but with sloping firm, fast fairways and large bunkers scattered around the golf course, placement is important. Clendenin noted the greens firmed up well as the rounds went on, making iron play important too.
“You had to be pretty precise with where you wanted to land the ball and kind of use some of the slopes in the greens to work it toward the hole. I was able to do that for the most part,” he said. “I avoided big numbers.”
Clendenin made only one bogey each of the first two days, in fact, and two bogeys in his final round. Three of the four came off of three putts.
— Article by Julie Williams of Golfweek and photo by Golfweek
