Peter Zornes Memorial Golf Tournament

The 12th annual Peter Zornes Memorial Golf Tournament at the Colfax Golf Club commenced July 13 with a 10 a.m. shotgun start and featured a scramble format. This year saw many new faces and contests, as well as some tried and true veterans.

Seth Thomas of Boise, a friend of Zornes’s from WSU, was again in attendance and remains the only participant to never miss the event. Thomas’s team comprised of himself and David Turnbull (Pullman).

Tyler Barkstrom of Spokane, and Austin Mudd of Maple Valley were the overall winners this year, scoring an impressive 49 in the 18-hole scramble round.

Mudd also won the Closest to the Pin contest, and Jon Davis of Pullman won for the Longest Drive.

This year’s putting contest was more of a putting biathlon, where participants were judged on their ability to sink long putts and their consistency putting at staggered distances.

Ryan Itani of Pullman was the victor, while Mudd was runner up. Several individuals also participated in “fun” contests such as shortest drive and “The On the Beach Contest” where golfers intentionally tried to hit into a bunker.

The most coveted award of the event, the Most Honest Team Award, aka the highest team score, went to the Jarrod Johnson team out of Pullman.

Following end of play, dinner from Ranch House Catering was provided, awards were made and participants in the $100,000 Shoot-Out were selected.

Thomas, Mudd, Turnbull, and Jeff Black of Spokane Valley all had an opportunity, but none won the big prize.

Other VIPs at the tournament included past recipients of the Zornes Scholarship: Colton Crawford, Shimin Tan, and Halle Weimar.

Several WSU Neuroscience professors also attended: Bert Tanner, Jon Davis, and Ryan McLaughlin. And Turnbull, a former WSU music instructor of Zornes, was on the winning team.

The tournament is the primary fundraiser for the Peter A. Zornes Memorial Neuroscience Scholarship at Washington State University. Zornes, a Whitman County native, attended WSU and graduated, cum laude, with a B.S. in Neuroscience in 2003. He then spent 18 months in Cincinnati, Ohio, working at Children’s Hospital doing research on allergies and asthma. He returned home shortly before he was to begin running a bio-med research lab in Pullman, but that never occurred as Zornes was murdered in Pullman on Dec. 10, 2005.

In an effort to make good come from tragedy, Zornes’s parents Tom and Kathy and sister Joy, all of Oakesdale, created both the scholarship and the tournament. The first award was made to Emiko (Namatame) Van Wie, DVM, in 2008 and the first tournament was later that year.

A total of 15 students have received the scholarship, the latest being Ms. Kajal Sabhaya, who will return to WSU this fall to complete her degree.

To date, previous scholars include two veterinarians, four medical doctors, three medical students, two researchers, and a Sr. Project Manager for the Providence St. Joseph Healthy System’s Neuroscience Institute.

The other two are in the process of preparing for medical school. When reviewing these stats, Kathy Zornes, the main force behind both the Scholarship and the Tournament in her son’s honor, said, “How many lives are going to be saved, human or animal, in ER’s and ambulances, operating rooms, cancer and cardiac centers? How many will receive proper diagnosis at the right time, appropriate treatment and counseling? How many lives are going to be impacted by these recipients and those to come? This is our – why we do it, why it matters.”

Plans for the 13th annual Peter Zornes tournament are already in process and coordinators expect to have a firm date set shortly, likely on or near the same weekend in July.