Sunridge digging out from weekend thunderstorm

After a week’s worth of work, Sunridge Golf Club is hoping to have 18 playable holes by Sunday at the latest according to Joe DeFilipps, PGA head pro.

Last weekend’s storm which knocked out power in Gardnerville, Carson City, Minden and Lake Tahoe, and delayed the finish of the 25th annual American Century Championship by three hours, caused major issues at Sunridge, especially on the par-4 14th hole which has a big elevation change.

The course was closed Monday and Tuesday, and the front nine was open for play on Wednesday. A total of 1 1/2 inches of rain fell in one hour on Sunday.

“Basically, the drainage from the subdivision above the golf course failed,” DeFilipps said. “That’s what the insurance adjustors are saying.

“We’ve had a five-man crew moving around a lot of dirt the last three days. It looks a lot worse than it turned out to be. We’ve mowed the entire font nine and it’s in great shape. We have a 19th hole, so we will still have 18 holes to play. We should have 18 holes available by Saturday or Sunday at the latest.”

DeFilipps said the future of No. 14 is still in doubt.

“We have to see if we can salvage it, or if we’re going to have to reconstruct a new hole,” the Sunridge pro said.

None of the other area courses reported any problems or closures.

“We drained pretty good,” said Paul Van Sickle, assistant pro at Carson Valley Golf Club. “We lost some power obviously, but the course fared just fine. We shut down (on Sunday).”

Ryan Buttner, Empire Ranch assistant pro, said things were back to normal on Monday.

“We didn’t even have to do cart path only,” Buttner said. “I heard a couple of courses got hit pretty hard.”

Silver Oak was in tip-top shape and open for business on Monday.

Beau Server, first assistant at Eagle Valley, said golfers were pulled off the course last Sunday around 3:45 p.m.

“It (the weather) may have helped us,” he said. “The city had cut our water by 25 percent on July 1, and the big open areas around 13 and 14 we had been letting go, so the rain helped there.”

Thunder Canyon, a private course in Washoe Valley, reported golfers were pulled off the course on Friday, Saturday and Sunday because of rain and lightning. Officials at Genoa Lakes didn’t return a phone call.