Oliver Kenyon
46 - ROCKLIN, CA
PERSONAL - I grew up all over the place but call Poulsbo, WA home. Most of my past 20 years have been spent in Northern California – San Jose and Sacramento. I have a son (17) named Jovani and a daughter (7) named Joslyn. I’m the Assistant General Manager at Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course.
TIE TO THE MONTEMAR - I think I mostly covered this when I wrote about why we chose the name Montemar Classic for this tournament. Instead of diving more into that, I thought I would take a quick minute to talk about what motivates me to make this the greatest buddies golf tournament in the history of the world….
My alarm goes off at 4:45am 5 days per week – Friday through Tuesday. After a quick shower I have a 40 minute commute to work. I work 8 to 10 hours and the commute home usually takes me close to an hour. Usually I’m beat-tired by the time I get home but I have kids so I pound some caffeine and try to be the best dad possible – football, soccer, gymnastics, basketball, baseball… edited to included swimming… lots of swimming – there’s always something going on. On my days off I’ve got my daughter 100% of the time and I play single dad. She usually let’s me sleep in until 7 and then we go-go-go-go. Parks, golfing, dinner dates, hiking, movies, whatever she feels like doing for the day we typically do. Like most of you, my life is pretty much non-stop.
I love my job and kids and it’s all amazing but the one thing I really miss out on is uninterrupted time with my buddies. Before the first Montemar I hadn’t seen Mike in almost 4 years, Simon lives 3 minutes away yet I only see him about once a month and whenever I do one or both of us have our kids, I hadn’t seen Travis Tobin in nearly 20 years, J-Hen for 6 or 7. I missed the beers and the late nights and the headaches and the laughs with my friends.
I’m also past the mid-way point of my life. As I reflect on the first half of it, the things I regret are the things I haven’t done and the friendships that have traveled different roads.
For me, the Montemar is a once-a-year excuse to see all my friends, and for my friends to see all of theirs, to make those roads meet in one place, drink the beers, get the headaches, laugh ‘till it hurts, make the memories, and do so in some of the most amazing places on earth. The golf part is all secondary for me. When I look back I don’t want to regret not doing this with you guys. I want to be able to say we all put together the best buddies golf trip in the history of the world.
FUN FACT – Last year’s Montemar was only the second time I’ve ever played golf drunk. This year I’m adding drunk and hungover practice to the training routine.
ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONTEMAR - Booked the golf.
PRIZES DONATED FOR 2025 – I should be able to get at least 8 more foursomes to donate to the prize pool.
2024 RECAP – My biggest regret of the 2023 Montemar was that I didn’t get enough time with all of you. I’m old so most nights I’m in bed by 9 and I pretty much did that in Scottsdale. Heading to Idaho, a tournament that had twice as many people as Scottsdale, I told myself I was going to get some quality time with everyone. But how could I do that? I convinced myself I could go the week without sleeping. How did that go? My biggest regret of 2024 was that I went the week without sleeping. 6 days with no more than 2 hours in a night was not a good idea. I had a blast but my Monday I could barely hold a club, let alone hit a ball straight. The plan allowed me to spend some time with most of you but it led to my worst finish in tournament history.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN in 2025– With less than 2 months remaining and my golf game non-existent - life has been too busy to play - I don’t think I have a chance this year. If I went out and played right now I would struggle to break 100. I’ll need to make some time to get out and practice if there’s any chance for me to get a top 10 in Reno.
ODDS TO WIN – 942-1
FUN FACT – We’ve all had mornings when we wake up and say we’re never drinking again. On the final day of last year’s Montemar, after the round had been finished and the awards had been handed out, I suffered through a 24 hour span in bed in which I could hear every organ in my body screaming at me. That day I said I’m never drinking again and so far it’s held true. Let’s see what pops up in Reno.
MONTEMARS PLAYED – 3 (2022 – Sacramento, 2023 - Scottsdale, 2024 - Coeur D’Alene)
MONTEMAR ROUNDS PLAYED – 8 (2022 – Yoche, Darkhorse, 2023 – TPC Scottsdale, TS Piipaash, TS O’odham, 2024 - Circling Raven x 2, Coeur D’Alene Resort Course)
LIFETIME POINT TOTAL – 685.5 (7th)
JACKETS WON – 0
TOP 3 FINISHES – 0
TOP 5 FINISHES – 1 (5th in 2023)
TOP 10 FINISHES – 2 (8th in 2022, 5th in 2023)
RECORDS – 2 (Best Dressed – 2023 as Kenny Powers/Scramble Low Round – 2024 with a 59 at TS Piipaash)
2025 TOURNAMENT HANDICAP - 25
INVITED BY – Member of the Original Ocho
PLAYERS INVITED - 13 (Brian Warren, Clancy Ryan, Drew McGhie, Ian Youngblood, Chris Holtzer, Jay Cleveland, Justin Isaacks, Nate Udy, Patrick Haley, Ryan Butler, Travis Tobin, Troy Szabo, Donny Kirkland, Bill Kirkland, Andrew Clarke, Matt Beales)
PRIZES DONATED 2025 – I should be able to get 8 more foursomes for the prize pot. We’ve also got a pretty nice lot of tee prizes this year.