Jay Cleveland

PERSONAL – Jay lives in Sammamish, Washington with his wife Katie, daughter Samantha (12), and son Jackson (10). Jay has done well for himself in the construction industry and owns a construction company that mainly focuses on government contracts at PSNS (Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), Bangor, and Keyport. He took up golf after college at Washington State (Go Huskies!) and is currently a member at the Plateau Club in Sammamish. He tries to play a couple times per week.

TIE TO THE MONTEMAR – Like myself and a handful of others in this tournament, Jay is a fellow Poulsbo native and North Kitsap Viking. My first memory of Jay goes all the way back to about the 5th grade. Shortly after I had moved from Seattle to Poulsbo I was playing basketball with some of my buddies at the covered basketball courts at Poulsbo Elementary School. Jay (one year older than me) and his little brother Ryan (one year younger) showed up with their dad to play some hoops also. We ended up playing more hoops together in high school, both on the JV high school team (I believe) and later made some great memories while playing for Gillman in the city league. Years later, sometime in our early 20s, his brother invited me to go on a trip with a bunch of their buddies down to Lake Tahoe for new years and that was a blast. I don’t think I saw Jay from then until this past August when I ran into him at the North Kitsap Alumni tournament, which is an event he helps run. It was great to see him and we chatted for a bit, I mentioned the Montemar, he seemed to like the idea, so I threw him on the invite and now we’ve got another great addition to this tournament. He’s a great guy who’s solid at golf and one who I could see him being a key cog in this event for many years to come.

 ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONTEMAR – Donating a $100 gift card. Thanks, Jay!

 WHAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN IN 2023 – His handicap will put him in the top division on Friday so he’ll be playing against the big boys that day, but he seems to be in the middle of the pack for that one and probably capable of beating anybody. He’s earned himself some pretty good payment points by paying early and the handicap indicates he’s got the game to do some damage on the golf course. As I play around with possible pairings for the scramble it seems that he’ll be paired with a couple of solid players for the that, giving him a very solid chance to be in the running come Sunday. The fact that he doesn’t know many people in this event could work to his advantage in the draft as he could slide a little bit and get picked by a slightly better player than he may have if he knew more people. The combination off all these things make Jay a darkhorse to win the Jacket as a rookie.

 WHAT ACTUALY HAPPENED IN 2023 – Jay lived up to his billing as a darkhorse by finishing 10th overall, 3rd amongst his rookie class. That position could have been even higher had he had a little more help in the scramble and with the random pairings. He went 86 and 78 in the individual rounds, the 78 one of only four rounds in the 70s for the entire tournament. Ouch, for the rest of us.

 WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN 2024 – I’m going to put Jay on the cover of Madden right now and call him my favorite to win the 2024 Montemar. Addison will “accidentally” break his leg if he’s anywhere near contention come Monday and Jay is somewhere right behind him when it comes to skill. What Jay seems to have that many of the other top players are missing is a very good understanding of the point system. He’s owned it with payment points, has more referral points than anybody in the field, and a very generous handicap for round one. (remember we do things this way to make it nearly impossible for a rookie to come in and win this). Last year Jay felt that rookie pain but this year as a sophomore there’s no reason to think he can’t take home the jacket. How he builds his scramble team, drafts, and what kind of luck he has with random pairings will all play big factors. Jay is my favorite to win the tournament in 2024.

 ODDS TO WIN – 8-1

 FUN FACT – Coach Gillman. Can’t explain it. You just had to be there. 

MONTEMARS PLAYED – 1 (Scottsdale 2023)

MONTEMAR ROUNDS PLAYED – 3 (TPC Scottsdale, TS-Piipaash, TS-O’odhaam – 2023)

LIFETIME POINT TOTAL - 295

JACKETS WON – 0

TOP 3 FINISHES – 0

TOP 5 FINISHES – 0

TOP 10 FINISHES – 1 (10th – Scottsdale – 2023)

RECORDS –0

TOURNAMENT HANDICAP – 15

INVITED BY – Oliver Kenyon

PLAYERS INVITED -  6- Kevin Hancock (Scottsdale – 2023), Jeff Thorne, Brian Sutton, Jeff Sao, Ryan Cleveland, Scott Medley (Coeur D’Alene – 2024)

PRIZES DONATED – $100 Gift Card