May 28, 2001
But for the humidity, one would be hard-pressed to tell the Oregon State men’s golf team had left the state of Oregon. The Beavers were greeted by a ceiling of rain clouds that let forth for the better part of the morning Monday – the team’s first full day in Durham, N.C., where OSU will play in its third-ever NCAA Championship beginning Wednesday with a 7 a.m. tee off at the Duke University Golf Club.
After leaving Gill Coliseum Sunday morning for the Eugene Airport at a bleary-eyed 4:15 to catch a cross-country flight to Durham via Denver and Chicago, the Beavers pulled into the well-appointed Washington Duke Inn after roughly 10 hours in cramped transit.
If anyone was drained from the trip, they had no worries when it came to filling up, as the Beavs got a taste of southern culinary skills at their finest at the “North Carolina Barbecue” welcoming dinner for the 30 teams and coaches and six individuals who qualified for the championship.
After a midmorning breakfast, the group of David Yarnes, Michael Jurgensen, Daren Grieg and David Williams teed it up on the first tee of the Duke University Golf Club for the first of two practice rounds, the second of which will be played Tuesday at 8 a.m. Anthony Arvidson represented Oregon State in the East-West best ball matches earlier in the morning, which the East won 6 1/2 – 2 1/2.
The Duke University Golf Course should come as a welcome respite for the Beavers, as well as the other nine teams who faced the treacherous rough at Oregon State’s Trysting Tree Golf Club during the NCAA West Regional. The knee-deep rough at Trysting, which humbled and frustrated some of the nations best over the regional’s three rounds, is nowhere to be found on the Duke course, where fairways seem large enough to land a small jet, and the rough barely makes one think twice about “taking the steering wheel off your driver”, as OSU coach Mike Ketcham commented during the round. The course lacks nothing by way of scenery though, as it is a lush green, tree-lined course. The fact that the trees are well away from the fairway though may actually allow the golfers to – gulp – enjoy the scenery during their rounds.
The greens however, are another story. The players and teams at the top of the leaderboard will be there due to accurate play with their irons – a facet of the game which will be crucial when placing the ball in a position to score on the undulating greens. Perhaps on one or two greens is there a flat putt, but the rest of the surfaces are as undulating as the North Carolina countryside. Monday’s greens were softened and slowed a bit by recent rain, which in fact carried on through most of the morning and into the first nine of OSU’s noon-time practice round. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for Friday, but the weather is predicted to hold off until then.
Yarnes, who along with Arvidson has played in all 13 tournaments for OSU this year, played consistently during his practice round, finding the fairways and sinking several putts. The path that led him to Oregon State is perhaps the most circuitous of any of the Oregon State golfers, arriving at age 26 after a four-year stint in the Air Force and two separate careers in junior college.
After cooling off from his practice round, Yarnes sat down for a Q & A session. Here’s what the junior transfer had to say.
DID YOU JOIN THE SERVICE RIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL?
Yarnes – “I did a year of college first at Pima Community College, and then went into the Air Force for four years afterward.”
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO JOIN THE MILITARY?
“I did that because I didn’t want to go to college right away, and I figured that would be a good thing to do in order to have some job security, make some money, and to get college paid for afterward.”
ANY REASON FOR THE AIR FORCE IN PARTICULAR?
“Lifestyle. I heard the lifestyle was better in the Air Force.”
DID THAT PAN OUT LIKE YOU HOPED?
“It worked out. It was just like I though it would be.
WHAT WAS YOUR SPECIALTY?
“I was a communications operator – a radio operator on an airplane, which was an EC-135. I was stationed in Omaha, Nebraska all four years. Actually, the first year of it was all training, and the next three years I was at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.”
IN YOUR TIME IN THE AIRFORCE, WHAT DID YOU PICK UP THAT CARRIED OVER TO LIFE IN GENERAL AND GOLF IN PARTICULAR?
“Well, as far as golf, I had played a year of junior college golf (prior to the Air Force). Going into the military, I heard that I would have an opportunity to play golf. I played golf almost every other day it seemed like, so my game just kept improving, even while I was in the Air Force. It wasn’t a problem coming back from the service and going to play golf in college and continuing on. That time didn’t hurt me, because of the exemptions you get for doing military service as far as eligibility. It was kind of a bonus.
“As far as the rest of my life, it helped because it gave me some time to figure out what I wanted to do.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU MISS ABOUT THE MILITARY?
“The camaraderie, mostly. You make so many good friends there and you meet so many different people, you’re all kind of like a big family. Whatever squadron you’re in or whoever you’re working with, those are the people you’re working with every single day. In the military, you have a lot of time with all those people, so I kind of miss that a bit.”
DO YOU GET A SENSE OF THAT CAMARADERIE BEING ON THE GOLF TEAM?
“Yeah, I do. The only difference with that is that this isn’t work for us. We don’t really think of this as work. In the military, sometimes you don’t really want to be at work, but those people that you’re working with pick you up and make it all right. That’s the only way it’s different. (on the golf team) Every day we go out, we’re competing against each other, so it’s a little different in that sense, but I love the group of guys that we’ve got on this golf team.”
DOES IT GIVE YOU A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE GAME ALREADY HAVING HAD SOME ‘LIFE EXPERIENCE’ WORKING IN THE MILITARY? DOES IT GIVE YOU A GREATER APPRECIATION OF THE GAME?
“I wouldn’t trade the situation I’m in. I didn’t have a lot of opportunities (to play golf collegiately) right afterwards, so to me, this was the best way to do it, to get where I am. I wasn’t recruited by Oregon State out of high school. The fact that I gave myself more time and improved got me ready to play now at this level. I’m kind of behind everybody. Some of these kids now, they’re ready to go turn pro after just a couple years of college. I still need some time here to improve my game before I’m ready to do that.”
“As far as perspective on life and golf, just being older and having had a lot of experiences with people older than myself – with the military and friends and family and all that – you grow up a little bit and cool down. I like to have fun with these guys, but when I go home, I’m pretty quiet, basically. That’s my personality.”
DOES THE FACT THAT YOU’RE 26 PUT YOU IN THE LEADERSHIP ROLE A LITTLE BIT?
“(Senior) Anthony (Arvidson) is our leader, and this is a mature group of guys, for sure. But every now and then there are subtle differences between a guy their age and a guy my age. They’re still young, and I’m still young, but every now and again there are subtle differences. That’s life.”
IS IT A BIT OF A BIG BROTHER ROLE?
“Yeah, it’s just like that. And it’s only because I’ve been around and seen some things and had some more time to grow up.”
AS FAR AS AT OREGON STATE, WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BEST EXPERIENCE HERE, WHETHER IT’S SCHOOL-RELATED OR WITH THE TEAM OR SOMETHING ELSE?
“I think the best experience so far has been the golf team, for sure, but I really enjoy the school as well. I’m totally happy. That’s the best thing about it, is I’m perfectly happy. I love school, I like the quarter system, and I love the weather. I like my coaches, the people, and I’ve made a lot of friends.”
WHAT IS THE STRONGEST PART OF YOUR GAME RIGHT NOW?
“My putting. It’s always been my putting, and it’s going to be my putting for a long time. I have to rely on my putting a bit, and when it comes tournament time, that’s probably when I putt the best. It seems like everybody on this golf team has a different part of their game that’s pretty good. We’ve got Jurgy (sophomore Michael Jurgensen), who’s got a great short game, and he’s a great ballstriker too. Anthony is probably the best driver of the ball on the team, and I would consider myself probably the best putter on the team. Everybody on the golf team is like that, where they’ve got something to contribute. For me it’s the putter.”
WHAT PART OF YOUR GAME HAVE YOU IMPROVED THE MOST SINCE YOU CAME TO OSU?
“My strategy. That’s something coach and I worked on starting at the beginning of the year. He’s been working on it pretty hard with all of us. When I come to a new golf course like this, it’s much easier for me to set a game plan for how I’m going to play the course.”
HOW DO THINGS LOOK TO YOU AFTER TODAY’S PRACTICE ROUND?
“I think after today, the guys look pretty good. We’ve got another practice round tomorrow, so we’ll see. From what I saw out there today, there was a pretty decent level of focus.
“The course might yield a few birdies – not too many, but it’s going to yield some. I don’t think anyone found it to be too difficult, so that’s a positive. I don’t think anybody’s going to have any fears when they go and play it. Some of the courses in the Pac-10 always have a hole or two that just doesn’t suit your game too well, and out here, there aren’t any holes like that that I noticed. So we’ll see. We’re going to have to putt well. If we putt well, we’ll play pretty well, because I know we’re going to be hitting fairways and greens out here.”