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UW`s Olson seeks fourth Riverbend Amateur title

By most reasoning, Erik Olson should have been playing for second place. Or maybe even third.But as he waited to tee off the final round of the Pacific-10 men`s golf championships in April, that wasn`t Olson`s reasoning.

"In my mind, I wasn`t second or third," said Olson, a 2002 Tahoma High grad who will be a redshirt junior at the University of Washington. "It was just one round of golf, add it up at the end, and see who wins." Olson played. He added. And he won, turning a 2-under-par 69 at Walla Walla Country Club into a one-shot victory over Arizona`s Nathan Lashley. Olson had started the day tied for second, four shots behind leader Pat Moore of Arizona State.

Now, with his first college championship - and perhaps an unexpected win - more than three months in the past, Olson will take his clubs to Riverbend Golf Course in Kent, where winning has become pleasantly familiar. He`ll try for a four-peat this weekend in the Riverbend Doxon Toyota Amateur. The first round of the 36-hole tournament begins at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, with the final round starting at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Olson prevailed by six strokes last year after winning by two shots both in 2002 and 2003.

"Winning Pac-10 was great, but there`s so much more stuff going on. I enjoyed it for a week, then the next week, I was back to work. But it gave me the confidence to go out there and play with the best golfers and win."