Scott Withers  › 2024 Santiam Open Presented by disc junction   January 9 at 9:02pm

Hi everyone...
Well, as you know the wonderful pacific northwest weather continues to throw plenty of surprises at us and this time it is at the expense of the Santiam Open.  I will explain our decision in this email, but the quick version is the event is going to be rescheduled to January 28th.  All things about the tournament will remain the same, we are just pushing it back two weeks for a few reasons.
Before I get to those reasons, if you are not able to make the new date we sincerely apologize.  This decision came with heavy hearts and I hate to make it, but we have to keep the safety of our players and the ability to run the tournament in mind.  If you need to drop out due to the date change you will get a full refund.  These refund requests need to be submitted before January 21st.  Any refund requests after that date will be subject to PDGA refund rules.  This gives players 12 days to figure out if the new date works for them.  
Here are our reasons. 
1. The low in Stayton Saturday night is forecast at 24 degrees.  The high on Sunday is 33... There is a very good chance that we would get to the course in these temperatures and never be allowed on the golf course to start with.  If the course is frozen, mainly the golf greens and tee boxes,  we simply are not allowed to be out there. This is common for golf courses to protect the grass.  It is their private property that we are "renting" and it is 100% their call with that portion of the event. I will attach a hour by hour forecast at the bottom of this email to show that the temperature is not projected to get over freezing until 3pm on Sunday. 
2. Travel Concerns- Portland is projected to see between 8-13 inches of snow between Friday-Saturday.  This mixed with a high of 27 degrees on Saturday means that snow is not going away.  With a low Saturday night of 21 degrees there is a real potential for roads that are not safe to drive.  We have 61 players from Portland Metro signed up for this event.  Sisters is projected between 1-2 feet of snow during that same time frame (all Central Oregon players must travel through here to get to the course).  This along with lows at or under 10 degrees make it possible that the pass won't even be open.The Eugene/Salem/Albany and south areas look like travel would be possible but there is still the potential for freezing rain in the forecast for some of those areas.  
Now we fully understand this is Oregon and forecasts change all the time, who knows, it might end up being beautiful all weekend but this is the deadline we have set with the golf course to make a call and currently there are too many things pointing to the direction of a reschedule for us to ignore.  
I've been stressing over this a ton the last few days and I feel like every forecast change by even a degree or two has toyed with my emotions lol... It is in the best interest of our tournament staff, the golf course and our players to push the date back two weeks and (fingers crossed) get a better weekend to play on.
After speaking to Howie, the Santiam Golf Course manager, we are on the same exact page about what we should do.  He wants to make sure the course is protected, his staff can get there safely also and that we have a great event.  They are so awesome to work with, and welcome us with such open arms, I want to make sure we keep that relationship strong.  
To those of you that this impacts, I am very sorry.  If you need a refund because you can't make the new date, feel free to request a refund on discgolfscene.  At the same time, if you have people you know that are hoping to play that either haven't got on the waitlist currently or just couldn't make the first date, please tell them to sign up for the waitlist and we will promote them as soon as spots open up.  
Thank you for understanding and I hope to see all of you on the 28th. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions on this email or on facebook messenger.
Thanks,
Scott Withers & The Santiam Open Team