Tournament Champions
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The Seattle Amateur Players Tour returned to Gold Mountain Golf Club’s Olympic Course in Bremerton, Washington on Saturday, October 24th for one of the premier Seattle amateur golf tournaments on the chapter’s board. A field of 32 players competed across five divisions, with the Mid-Am Net and Senior Net games running alongside. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index.
The Olympic Course opened in 1996 and has a championship résumé to match the walk: it hosted the 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 2006, the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in 2011, NCAA Men’s West Regional golf in 2008 and the NCAA Men’s Regional Championship in 2015, and it welcomes the University of Washington Husky Invitational each October. The fairways are tree-lined but generous off the tee, and the defense sits closer to the hole, where heavy mounding feeds balls into large collection areas around every green. It is hillier than its sister Cascade Course and still comfortably walkable, with the par-3 16th standing as the signature hole. The opening stretch did the heavy lifting on the day — the par-4 2nd played 1.34 strokes over par and surrendered only two birdies in 32 plays. The par-5 6th was the one hole that gave something back, yielding eight birdies and playing just 0.22 over.
Conditions started out chilly and calm, which meant no wind to fight but no warmth either for the early groups. The sun broke through around 12:30 and thawed everyone out, and the back nine was played in considerably more comfort than the front.
Division 1 belonged to Lee Tieu of Puyallup, Washington, who came to Gold Mountain for his first APT tournament and walked off with his first division title. Tieu signed for a 14-over 86 to take the Division 1 crown in his debut — the kind of start to a tour career that tends to bring a player back.
In Division 2, Kevin Murray of Shoreline went low early and often, turning in 2-under 34 with birdies at the par-4 2nd and the par-5 6th on his way to a 4-over 76 — the low round of the day across the entire field. Murray came home in 6-over 42, but he had built enough cushion to hold on by a single stroke, and his card finished with 13 pars against just two bogeys. Alex Bacevicius of Seattle and Lee Caton of Maple Valley shared runner-up honors at 5-over 77. Bacevicius trailed by three after six and by six at the twelve-hole mark before playing his closing six holes in even par, picking up birdies at the par-4 13th and the par-4 18th among his four on the day. Caton walked the same path, out in 3-over 39 and home in 2-over 38 with a birdie at the par-5 14th, and he closed his last six in even par to pull within four with three to play. Four players finished within two shots of the lead.
Division 3 produced the second debut winner of the afternoon. Edward James Fisher of Seattle played his first APT tournament and broke through for his first division title, posting an 11-over 83 to win by a single stroke. Fisher and Daniel Person of Lake Stevens were dead level after six holes, and Person was never more than a shot back all day — still tied after fifteen before Fisher answered where it mattered most over the closing three. Fisher went out in 5-over 41 with his lone birdie coming at the par-5 6th and came home in 6-over 42. Person matched 6-over 42s on both nines and collected eight pars on a golf course that did not hand many out. Three players finished within two of the lead.
Harsha Yellamareddygari of Sammamish took Division 4 with an 11-over 83, a five-shot win in a race that was closer than the final margin suggests. He and Mark Hewitt of Bothell were level after six holes before Yellamareddygari pushed the gap to five by the twelve-hole mark, and Hewitt trimmed it back to three with three to play. The winner’s best swing of the day came at the par-4 17th, the third-hardest hole on the course, which gave up exactly one birdie in 31 plays — and it was his. Hewitt recovered from a 9-over 45 on the front to play the inward nine in 7-over 43 for a 16-over 88, with his birdie arriving at the par-4 4th.
Division 5 was settled on the scorecard. Michael Maxted of Kirkland and Robert Gustman of Lynnwood tied at 20-over 92, and Maxted claimed the division title on a card playoff. The two took entirely different routes there. Maxted was six clear of Gustman after six holes, but Gustman turned the race around through the middle of the round, going from six behind to two ahead by the twelve-hole mark and stretching that to five with three to play after a birdie at the par-5 11th. Maxted made all five of those strokes back over the closing holes to force the tie, then won it on the scorecard.
Kevin Murray completed the double-dip in the Mid-Am Net game, where his net 3-under 69 was good for a one-shot win and a second trophy on the day. Graham Root of Seattle gave chase but fell short at net 2-under 70 after sitting four back through six holes and five back from the twelve-hole mark onward. It was a bunched leaderboard behind them, with three players within two of Murray’s number.
Harsha Yellamareddygari made it two trips to victory lane as well, adding the Senior Net title to his Division 4 win with a net 3-under 69. Lee Caton had been a shot to the good through twelve holes and finished at net 2-under 70, one stroke adrift, giving him a second runner-up finish on the day to go with his Division 2 result. Two players finished within two of the lead.
The day’s loudest shot came from Karen Bolton, who marked a strong return to the APT by holing out from 85 yards at the par-4 10th for an eagle. Mike Cannon found one of his own at the par-5 14th, the only eagle recorded there on the day.
That is the Seattle chapter off and running for the 2027 season, with a Division 1 title and a Division 3 title both going to players in their first APT start, two double-dip winners, and a card playoff to separate Division 5. The points race builds from here.
