Outlaws take over Aspen Lakes

The 11th annual Outlaw Open found a perfect day during Sisters traditional spotty June weather. The fund-raising golf tournament for Sisters High School's athletic programs marks the beginning of summer for many local folks.

As the golfers came in from the 18th hole, there was no usual gathering around the leaderboard to find out who the winners were. With the new GPS system Aspen Lakes has installed in its golf carts, everyone knew their standings in real time. The result was a rush to dinner and stories of opportunities lost on the course.

Matt Macauley, who refers to himself as the "much younger" brother of Sisters High School principal Bob Macauley, was the chef for this year's feast.

"This year we had a couple who have a fishing fleet in Alaska donate the salmon. They flew it in fresh, and it is absolutely wonderful," said the younger Macauley.

The dinner was set up in a large tent that easily accommodated the event's golfers and their guests.

"The weather really cooperated, but the tent was our safety net," said Grant Cyrus, general manager of Aspen Lakes Golf Course.

The waiters were members of the Sisters High School football team, who were wearing their jerseys and making every effort to be team players as they circulated through the crowd picking up empty plates and hustling the guests to purchase raffle tickets that soon looked to be in short supply.

The raffle tickets were sold individually and in different denominations, but by far the most popular choice was the $20 stretch. The stretch was the number of tickets that would go from the ground to as high as the selected person could reach and caused an immediate rush to find the tallest person around to make the measurement.

This was the 11th year that Aspen Lakes has donated their course for the fund-raiser that has grown every year.

"The first year it was pretty small, and I remember one year where the weather was pretty bad and the turn-out was a little smaller than expected, but it has really grown every year. It is really fun for us to be able to give back to the community and see how this has evolved," said Grant Cyrus.

The tournament originally grew out of a need to assist the football team that found itself underfunded at a time of budgetary cutbacks. As the event has grown, funds have been filtered into supporting a much wider range of sports than just football. The benefit is the only event specifically targeted to fund Sisters High School athletic programs.

"This year we were able to help lacrosse, girls track, baseball and softball. I know some people think this is just about football, but this really helps out all the sports that find themselves a little behind the eight ball," said Bob Macauley, Sisters High School principal and football coach.

Although a golf tournament is the venue that is used as the fund-raiser, none of the event's proceeds go into the high school's golf program.

Our golf program is so well supported by the parents and the community that we haven't had a need to find any supplemental funding for it," said Macauley.

This year's fund-raising appeared to be slightly ahead of that of previous years, but it was still too early to tell what the final figures would be.

"I think we will probably gross around $60,000 this year, but some of that total is in-kind donations, like the use of the golf course. We should net somewhere around $24,000 to $25,000 for the athletic programs once the auction and the expenses are calculated," said Macauley.

This year there were 34 teams playing with a total of 136 golfers.

The winning team came in at 19 under par, which is quite an accomplishment for the four-man scramble that was this year's format.

"Michael Reeve, Billy Jacobson, Max Chippy Levitch and Scott Barton came in three shots better than the next team. They were playing some really great golf," said Derek Johnson, head golf professional at Aspen Lakes.