Gold Mountain Set for Husky Invitational

Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash., will show off a new tee box on the third hole and its tournament-friendly spirit when 13 college teams tee off Monday morning in the 54-hole Husky Invitational.

The third hole on the Olympic Course has been lengthened by about 70 yards with the new tee that will make it about a 490-yard, par-4, while boosting the overall yardage of the Olympic Course to nearly 7,200 yards.

That's just one of the many aspects of Gold Mountain that makes it inviting for Matt Thurmond, coach of the host University of Washington. "It's a hard course," he said at a media day held earlier this week. "It's a legitimate championship course, and over the years they continue to make improvements and make it a championship course, by adding tees, improving conditions, whatever."

Gold Mountain was the site of the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. The NCAA West Regionals will be held there May 15-17, 2008, and Thurmond said he's putting in a bid for the NCAA Championships to come to Gold Mountain in either 2012 or 2013. "You look at these things years out, and I, with 100 percent confidence, know this is going to be in great shape come tournament time," Thurmond said of Gold Mountain.

His players agree. "The greens," Zach Bixler, a senior from Richland, Wash., said when asked what he likes most about Gold Mountain. "I like the greens. They're real sloping, and they're fast."

Besides being the host of the West Regionals and hoping for the NCAA Championships down the road, Thurmond wants to make the Husky Invitational one of the best collegiate tournaments of the year, and that's why he turned to the municipal course in Bremerton. "Knowing the kind of effort they put into it, and knowing how much they care about doing their events, and the kind of job that they do, I know we can have a world-class event," said Thurmond, praising the staff at Gold Mountain.

Joining Washington in the Husky Invitational will be Pepperdine, San Diego State, Oregon State, Fresno State, California, Pacific, California-Davis, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington State and Idaho.

More information on the Husky Invitational is available by calling 360/415-5432.