INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SaTUrday, JUNE 19, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
LOCAL GOLF
Swann, of Tokatee,
wins Oregon Open
SISTERS — Amateur
Kennedy Swann of Toka-
tee Golf Club (McKenzie
Bridge) won the Oregon
Open Invitational Thurs-
day by two strokes over
PGA professional and de-
fending champion Brady
Sharp of Wine Valley GC
(Walla Walla, Wash.) and
Mason Koch of Fairwood
G&CC (Renton, Wash).
Swann is the first
woman to ever win the
tournament, which dates
back to 1905.
The 54-hole Oregon
Open was held Tuesday
through Thursday at the
Glaze Meadow course at
Black Butte Ranch.
Isaac Buerger, of Eagle
Crest Resort, finished tied
for sixth, four strokes back
of Swann. Buerger led the
tournament after day 2,
but shot a 75 on Thurs-
day, while Swan carded a
69 to take the win.
In addition to the indi-
vidual competition, the
Oregon Open included
48 teams competing in a
36-hole best-2-of-4 net
team event and pro-am
four-ball.
A team including PGA
professional David Phay,
of Whidbey Golf Club
(Oak Harbor, Wash.), PGA
professional David Castle-
berry and amateur Matt
Kline, of Harbour Pointe
GC (Mukilteo, Wash.) and
amateur Doug Pierce
(Whidbey Golf Club) won
the net team competi-
tion. They fired an impres-
sive 34-under par.
Winning the four-ball
team competition was
Phay and Pierce, with a
two-day total of 19-un-
der par.
— Bulletin staff report
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
Pac-12 wants auto
bids on expansion
ROSEMONT, Ill. —
College Football Playoff
expansion took another
step forward Friday as
the full group of com-
missioners who manage
the postseason system
wrapped up two days of
digging into a plan for
a 12-team format that
would revamp the na-
tional championship.
The first debate about
what the final version of a
new playoff will look like
has emerged: The Pac-12
is pushing for each Power
Five conference to receive
an automatic berth.
Expect at lot more ne-
gotiating to come.
Last week, the CFP un-
veiled a plan to expand
from four to 12 teams. Six
spots would be reserved
for the highest-ranked
conference champions,
but no league would au-
tomatically qualify. The
other six teams would
be chosen at-large from
the selection committee’s
rankings.
Incoming Pac-12
Commissioner George
Kliavkoff, whose rep-
resents the only Power
Five conference to pub-
licly support playoff ex-
pansion, left his first CFP
meeting encouraged.
“The good news is ev-
eryone who’s on this con-
ference committee sup-
ports expansion. So we’re
aligned on that,” said
Kliavkoff, who attended
the meeting along with
outgoing Pac-12 Com-
missioner Larry Scott.
But the Pac-12 also
made clear what it wants
in the early going: In a
statement, Scott said:
“The Pac-12 supports
expansion of the CFP
and believes that the Au-
tonomy Five champions
should annually qualify
for the CFP.”
— Associated Press
U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS
Bend’s Rebecca Mehra advances to 1,500-meter semifinals
BULLETIN STAFF REPORT
EUGENE — Bend’s Re-
becca Mehra finished fourth
in her heat to advance to the
semifinals of the women’s
1,500 meters at the U.S. Olym-
pic Track & Field Trials at
Hayward Field on Friday.
Mehra will race in the semi-
finals on Saturday evening. If
she finishes in the top five in
her semifinal or as
Mehra, who runs
one of the next two
for the Littlewing
fastest runners by
Athletics team in
time, she will advance
Bend that is spon-
to the 1,500 finals, set
sored by Oiselle, fin-
ished with a time of
for Monday evening.
4 minutes, 13.71 sec-
The top three run-
onds. She finished
ners in Monday’s final Mehra
fourth out of 10 run-
qualify for the U.S.
ners in the second of three
Olympic team for the Tokyo
heats on Friday.
Games later this summer.
Twenty-four of the 28 en-
tered runners in the women’s
1,500 advanced to Saturday’s
semifinals.
Jenny Simpson finished
with the fastest time, winning
her heat in 4:11.34.
Nikki Hiltz was the next
fastest in 4:11.42, and Shan-
non Osika was third-fastest in
4:11.59.
Mehra, who ran collegiately
for Stanford and moved to
Bend in 2018, is also entered
in the 800, which is scheduled
for Thursday.
On Sunday evening, Bend’s
Mel Lawrence, one of Meh-
ra’s teammates on Littlewing,
is scheduled to run in the
first round of the women’s
3,000-meter steeplechase.
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Saints march
to state tourney
Class 1A Trinity Lutheran goes undefeated
in league, now prepares for state title run
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
F
or the third straight year, Trinity Lutheran will
make the trip to Baker to play in the Class 1A
boys basketball state tournament next week.
The Saints completed an undefeated Mountain Valley
League season Thursday night with a 49-45 comeback win over
Rogue Valley Adventist Academy. As they begin their march
toward a state title, their coach hopes they fi-
INSIDE
nally put a full game together.
“We haven’t practiced in a couple of weeks,”
• High school
said Kyle Gilbert, the Trinity Lutheran coach.
scores, re-
sults, and
“Through that we haven’t been able to work
softball 6A
through stuff so it has been a little roller
all-city team, coaster-ish. I was proud of the way they contin-
B2
ued to battle back and continued to rally. Some
good things are happening, we are just looking
to put it together into one big game.”
When Trinity Lutheran (7-0 MVL, 8-4 overall) takes the
court Monday night against Falls City at Powder Valley High
School, the Saints will hardly resemble the team that made the
past two trips to the tournament.
Gone is one of the state’s most prolific scorers in Mat-
thew Eidler, as are previous seniors Gideon Schippers, Cash
Niemeyer and Abe Clift — key pieces in the Saints’ run to the
state title game in 2019.
See Saints / B2
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Trinity Lutheran’s Scooty Gilbert (34) drives past Rogue Valley’s Alex Wiggers (40) to score during the first
quarter Thursday night in Bend.
GOLF
Richard Bland, Russell Henley share lead in a U.S. Open that is really open
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SAN DIEGO — The U.S.
Open prides itself on being the
most open of all majors with
some 9,000 players from all
walks of golf having a chance to
compete.
Open, indeed.
The weekend at Torrey Pines
features major champions and
major contenders, players who
are unknown or unheralded,
all of them still within reach
of that U.S. Open trophy. Nine
shots separated first from last.
It starts with Richard Bland,
a 48-year-old from England
who finally won on the Euro-
pean Tour last month in his
478th try. Bland had a 4-under
67 and walked off Torrey Pines
with his name atop the leader-
board in only his fourth major.
His first one was 23 years ago.
Russell Henley had a chance
to build a two-shot lead Friday
afternoon when he stood over
an 18-foot birdie putt on the
par-5 ninth. He missed, and
then watched his 2-foot par
putt spin out of the cup. That
gave him a 70 to join Bland
5-under 137.
They will be in the final
group Saturday, with plenty
of heavy hitters behind them
and getting far more attention.
Former British Open cham-
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Richard Bland hits from the second fairway during the second round of
the U.S. Open on Friday at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.
pion Louis Oosthuizen (71)
and Matthew Wolff (68), the
U.S. Open runner-up last year
at Winged Foot, were one shot
behind.
Another shot back were two-
time Masters champion Bubba
Watson (67) and Jon Rahm
(70), a past winner at Torrey
Pines and former world No. 1.
Defending champion Bryson
DeChambeau and his buddy,
Brooks Koepka, were at even
par, only five shots behind.
They were on the same score.
They will not be in the same
group.
Also at even-par 142 was Jus-
tin Thomas, who had a 68.
“Most times if I’m five back
going into a Saturday, I need
to probably make 12, 15-plus
birdies on the weekend to hang
in there,” Thomas said. “But
this is a U.S. Open. It’s a little bit
different.”
Henley doesn’t know much
about Bland except that he
pays a little attention to golf
worldwide and recalled hearing
about his British Masters win to
end his long quest for a victory.
“I’m sure he knows nothing
about me, too,” said Henley, a
three-time winner on the PGA
Tour who has played 26 majors
without a top 10.
Bland’s victory in the British
Masters made him the oldest
first-time winner in European
Tour history. That also was the
start of a three-tournament
series for the leading 10 play-
ers to get into the U.S. Open.
Travel restrictions from the
COVID-19 pandemic elimi-
nated the 36-hole qualifier in
England.
This is only his fourth ma-
jor — twice at Royal Birkdale
in 1998 and 2017, once at Beth-
page Black for the U.S. Open
in 2009 — and he came in on a
high note.
“A lot of guys have a lot more
on the CV than I do,” Bland
said. “But I’m here to compete
and give it everything I’ve got.”
Oosthuizen, coming off a
runner-up finish in the PGA
Championship, finished with
two pars in the morning to cap
off a 67 to share the first-round
lead with Henley. He didn’t get
any lower in the second round
and shot 71, but was right in
the mix.
So was Wolff, a surprise only
because he lost all joy playing
golf after such a hot start out of
Oklahoma State that he walked
away from the game for two
months, even missing a major
at the PGA Championship. He
returned to the toughest test in
golf and shot 70-68, two-put-
ting for eagle on the last hole.
“It’s awesome that I came
out here and played well, but
I think more importantly, I’m
just getting closer to being
more comfortable and being
happy and enjoying it,” Wolff
said.
“I feel like I’ve done a very
good job of enjoying it, but
I’ve still got a long way to go to
keep a level head. Like I said,
I’ll probably be working on the
same thing that I’m working on
now for the rest of my career.”
Dustin Johnson and Rory
McIlroy were headed the
wrong direction. Johnson, who
missed the cut in the Mas-
ters and PGA Championship,
dropped to 4 over until a late
rally gave him a 73 and a spot
in the weekend. He was seven
behind. McIlroy had to birdie
two holes down the stretch for
a 73. He was six behind.
The 36-hole lead at Torrey
Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open
was 3-under 139.
See U.S. Open / B2