Huff dynasty endures at Sole Survivor golf tourney

Sep. 2—Whether we should speak in consecutive terms or cumulative ones, Jason Huff of Moscow now stands alone as the winningest player in the 73-year history of Lewiston Golf & Country Club's celebrated Labor Day event, the Whing Ding Sole Survivor championship.

The former Idaho Vandal golfer and current Moscow High teacher stood strong as rivals from a field of 10 qualifiers in the match play event were eliminated one hole at a time on Monday, ultimately clinching his fourth consecutive and sixth overall Sole Survivor title with a three-stroke performance on No. 18 after finalist Ben Tigsted was fatally set back by a ball in the water.

A cool customer on an emotional occasion

"That's a real flat-liner getting ready to putt," one observer remarked as Huff stood on the green poised for the finish.

"Steady Eddie," another chimed in.

Huff lived up to their accolades with a straightforward two-putt clincher. Cheers, applause and celebratory honks from the caravan of several dozen golf carts that had been following the competition rang out in celebration.

After Huff was presented with the tournament's crystalline trophy, his longtime caddie Chad Laird enfolded him in the first of many tearful embraces.

An extra layer of emotional significance may have been added to Huff's victory by the fact that his mother, Anita Fay Huff, passed away two weeks earlier from pancreatic cancer. The Tribune's obituary for her had just run on Sunday.

"I love my mom, and I miss her," Jason Huff said.

The road to victory

Though Huff's ultimate victory might seem like a natural outcome in hindsight, it would not necessarily have been obvious ahead of time in light of the strength of the competition and the progress of early holes. The field entered with an event-record aggregate handicap of plus 39 in what was the first time ever that all 10 finalists had a positive handicap. The lowest in the field was the plus 7 of Chris Thomas, a Lewiston native and a golfer at the Clubs at Arrowhead in Glendale, Ariz.

The day's first big surprise came on hole No. 10, the second contested; a murmur of disappointment passed through the crowd as former champion and fan favorite Geno Bonnalie (best-known for his decade serving as caddie to Clarkston High alum and PGA Tour professional Joel Dahmen) found himself eliminated thanks to a seven-stroke performance.

"Love you, Geno!" one man called out as Bonnalie accepted consolatory hugs and pats on the back while retiring to his golf cart to join the spectators for the rest of the afternoon.

Bonnalie's downfall also meant a reprieve for Huff, who had the second-highest total on the hole at six strokes and could otherwise have been facing elimination himself.

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"I got lucky," Huff said later. "Geno hit a bad shot, and he usually doesn't."

If spirits had been dimmed by Bonnalie's exit, they were promptly brightened again when the highlight stroke of the day came on the next hole. Finding himself faced with a long uphill putt on No. 11, Huff spent several minutes pacing the perimeter of the green and looking the terrain up-and-down while other competitors lined up their own strokes. When his turn came, the defending champion delivered a carefully calibrated shot that climbed and arced perfectly toward the hole, then looked for a moment like it might run out of steam just shy of its target, only to fall at the last instant for an eagle, drawing gasps of admiration and applause.

This year's Sole Survivor was uncharacteristically short on chip-offs — the tense sudden-death affairs that ensue when multiple players are tied for the high stroke total on a given hole and must take turns attempting a chip onto the green from the same designated spot, with whoever comes farthest from the hole eliminated. Only two such situations arose, with the latter the more dramatic and significant as it came on a four-way tie between all of the remaining contestants: Huff, Trigsted, LGCC men's association president Jared Mraz, and Mitch Baldridge, who was ultimately eliminated as his chip curved well to the left of the hole.

Mraz's exit came next when he attempted a downhill chip on No. 17 that skimmed the edge of the hole for a potential birdie, but instead rolled past, then an uphill putt that did the same thing going in the other direction, before finally putting the ball away for a five-stroke bogey.

Trigsted and Huff were left to face off on No. 18, the day's 10th and final hole. Huff, who had come through a nailbiter last year against Lewis-Clark State golf coach Zach Anderson, was spared any more such drama by Trigsted's disastrous drive.

"I got in Position A this time on the fairway," said Trigsted, who recalled having also been derailed by an errant drive when he finished runner-up to Huff seven years ago. "My only bad shot of the day, into the water. I hit it onto the greens — proud of giving myself a chance at par — but he had an easy two-putt for birdie. Tough break, but I'm excited to get at it again next time."

All about the shot you're on

Huff won his first Sole Survivor title in 2008, topping fellow area veteran Corey Brown (also among this year's contestants) in a down-to-the-wire tiebreak. A second championship followed a decade later in 2018, with Trigsted the runner-up on that occasion as well.

Huff's current dynasty started in '22 with a win over Mraz on the championship hole, and three more consecutive titles have followed since. No one had ever won the tournament more than twice in a row prior to this.

While he is no slouch in standard-scoring golf tournaments, match play very much seems to have become Huff's true domain of success. What is his secret?

"He's just super, super consistent," Trigsted said. "Jason knows how to make par, and he knew how to birdie the last hole."

The flat-lining Steady Eddie himself had this to say:

"I just like it, because each hole, you start over. Whatever you did doesn't matter, and whatever you might do doesn't matter. It's all about the shot you're on."

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.