Notebook

WEATHER OR NOT

Alotian Club founder Warren Stephens said he was pleased with just about everything that occurred during the seven-day run of the Western Amateur Championship that ended Monday.

“Great championship, great champion, great field,” Stephens said.

The one regret Stephens had was that the final eight holes of the final match were played in a silent setting, minus the hundreds of patrons and volunteers who brought a buzz to the course the previous six days.

“I wish it would have ended yesterday [Sunday], but weather is something we can’t control,” Stephens said.

Six weather delays because of lightning and thunderstorms combined to delay play nearly six hours, delaying the start and completion of Wednesday’s second round and Sunday’s final until Monday CONSIDER THIS

If and when The Alotian Club hosts another Western Amateur, Warren Stephens said he would encourage WGA officials to take a wait-and-see approach regarding the weather.

Several compromises were made to accommodate August weather in Arkansas, such as letting the players wear shorts and spreading out the third and fourth rounds over two days instead of the traditional 36-hole stroke-play round used to create the Sweet 16. One 36-hole day would have left more time to complete match play.

“If we ever do this again, we might reconsider the format,” Stephens said. “We made certain changes to accommodate for the weather. … Maybe we should have waited to see how the week went.” THESE GUYS, GOOD

Alotian Club director of golf Jon Zieske said the course flourished under the duress of more than 8,000 holes of golf being played on it.

“The greens were magnificent,” he said. “They were probably the highlight of the week.”

Zieske said he was not surprised by the way the course held up, but he was impressed by the scores.

“The 6-under cut was a little lower than I thought it would be, but I didn’t know how good these guys were,” he said. “I knew they were good, but they’re there.”

Good enough to play on the Web.com, the feeder program to the PGA Tour.

“Absolutely, no doubt about it,” he said.