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Quail tabs Fought to design back nine By TIM TROWER John Fought, the architect for some of the finest golf courses in Oregon, has been chosen to design the back nine holes at Quail Point Golf Course. Fought, who recently teamed up with Tom Lehman to form a new design company and moved his headquarters to Scottsdale, Ariz., will visit Quail Point today. He'll walk over the existing nine holes, meet with the media and Rogue Valley Manor residents, then survey the acreage on which the back nine will sit. Construction is scheduled to begin next summer and play on the new nine is expected to start in the spring of 2003. "We talked with a whole ton of people," said Brian McLemore, executive vice president of development and marketing, "everyone from (Arnold) Palmer's group all the way down. We felt John brought a lot to the table, and he's done a lot of top-quality courses recently in Oregon." Fought, the 1977 U.S. Amateur champion and a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, was the co-designer with Bob Cupp on notable courses in Oregon. Their list of achievements includes Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, site of the 1996 U.S. Amateur and 1997 U.S. Women's Open; Crosswater in Sunriver, ranked among the top 100 courses in the country; The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club outside of Portland, which is the home of the Fred Meyer Challenge; and Langdon Farms in Aurora. Quail Point, a nine-hole public course, is on 75 acres and wraps below the Rogue Valley Manor in southeast Medford. The second nine has more than 100 acres available, beginning about where the No. 6 green and No. 7 tee box now reside and stretching to the south. In addition to designing the back nine, Fought will be involved in reconstruction of the front nine. The degree to which it will be reconfigured is uncertain, but McLemore said rebuilding some greens and adding bunkering and mounding might be in order. Original plans left room for cottages to be built between the first and second fairways and between the fifth fairway and ninth hole. The cottages aren't likely to be built, so those areas could be utilized in the reconstruction. "John has had a lot of experience in this area," McLemore said, noting that Fought recently remodeled the South Course at Sunriver. Among the challenges the designer faces is putting in an impressive back nine but redoing the front so the two nines "aren't so different that you don't know you're playing the same course," said McLemore. Another goal is to have enough tee options that it's comfortable enough for the general public but tough enough to test low handicappers. Fought's work on resort courses indicates he's able to find that fine line, McLemore said. Early schematics show the Quail Point back nine being about 600 yards longer than the present 3,056 yards, with two par 5s, wider fairways and a lot of water features, said McLemore. While the front nine is characterized by dramatic elevation changes, the terrain on the back is flatter. "We need to now let John take it from here," said McLemore, "and see what he comes up with." Fought, who merged with Lehman to form John Fought-Tom Lehman Golf Course Architecture, has been in the design business since 1988 and formed his own company in 1995. He was the principal course designer for OB Sports and has 10 solo designs to his credit. Quail Point first submitted its plan to convert to 18 holes in 1996. But a series of court challenges delayed the process. In November, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld previous local and state approvals for the project, and the course's chief opponent, the Jackson County Citizens League, chose not to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.