Jay Cleveland

PERSONAL – Jay lives in Sammamish, Washington with his wife Katie, daughter Samantha (13), and son Jackson (11). 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 – Jay has always been good for a donation and has come through big time in adding some other good guys to the tournament. He’s quickly developing a Montemar players tree that rivals Bill Walsh’s coaching tree.

 WHAT NEEDEDED 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.

 WHAT ACTUALY HAPPENED IN 2024 – Missing 11 of 12 KP Greens and garnering less KP points than his little brother was not a recipe for success in Idaho. The man who had been billed the favorite to win the tournament, who did everything right leading up to Idaho, let the pressure get to him and collapsed in a big way. Okay… saying he collapsed is a little unfair. The guy came out and went 80/82 at some relatively challenging courses. As I dive deeper into his rounds the biggest blunders were the par 3s and a failure to turn in a correct score card on time, twice.

 WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN 2025 – This year the pressure is off. Nobody excepts anything from someone who didn’t even crack the top 20 a year ago even though they had a million referral points. He’ll have to get creative with his scramble team and make it fit the format. Last year he built a team that would have dominated the Kitsap tourney, but the Montemar is a different animal. To maximize scramble points at the Montemar he needs to remember that his brother is a more valuable partner than Jeff Thorne. Those 30-40 strokes Ryan gives are much more valuable than what a stud can do. Balance is the key here. Cripe has already been poached, so can he get Woodside? Build that scramble team right and turn in completed scorecards on time and there’s no reason to think Jay can’t crack the top 10 all time after Reno.

 ODDS TO WIN – 28-1

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

MONTEMARS PLAYED – 2 (Scottsdale 2023, Coeur D’Alene 2024)

MONTEMAR ROUNDS PLAYED – 6 (TPC Scottsdale, TS-Piipaash, TS-O’odhaam – 2023/Circling Raven x 2, Coeur D’Alene Resort Course - 2024)

LIFETIME POINT TOTAL - 601.5 (15th)

JACKETS WON – 0

TOP 3 FINISHES – 0

TOP 5 FINISHES – 0

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

RECORDS – 1 (Closest non winning CTP Shot. 6ft at Pipaash in 2023)

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), Ryan Ingalls, Justin Ingalls (Reno 2025)

PRIZES DONATED – Jay has proven to be always good for something fun.