Humane Society Chief Gets Birdie

A tee shot that killed a sea gull was no laughing matter for the golfer, a Humane Society director, and it didn’t do his game any good, either.

Phil Olson, head of the group’s Cowlitz County chapter and director of the Longview Pioneer Lions two-person scramble Saturday at Mint Valley Golf Course, said he was so shaken after his drive on the 14th hole that he could hardly swing the club for the next two holes.

Ball connected with bird about 60 yards from the tee, and both landed in a pond. The sea gull kept its head up briefly, then died.

“The ball hit pretty solidly right in the body of the sea gull,” Olson said, calling it “one of the most sickening experiences of my life.”

Olson and his partner, Rick Beireis of Olympia, wound up shooting 82 to finish third in their flight.

Olson took some kidding at the post-tournament banquet, but “I don’t think anybody was brutal,” he said.