Rosauers Open/2006

From PNWPGAWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

By Jordan Bury, PGA

The 2006 Rosauer’s Open Invitational was another illustrious success this year. All the sponsors and participants have made this tournament the largest section purse in the country at $135,000. If that is not impressive enough, this tournament generated $115,000 to the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery in Spokane. The nursery is a safe haven and resource for children and adults who are victims of domestic violence and abuse.

The Bank of America Pro-Am was plagued with bad weather, but on Friday of the first day of the championship we had perfect eastside warm weather without a cloud in the sky. Indian Canyon GC, designed by H. Chandler Eagon, is a perfect test of skill and shot making, coupled with tough decision making on whether to be aggressive or patient.

The player that mastered the combinations perfectly the first day was Lon Hinkle of Eagle Bend in Montana. Hinkle carded five birdies and two eagles along the way to his fine round of 64. After the first day, the leaderboard showed a great tournament coming up for the next two rounds with the following players right behind Hinkle with rounds of 65: Chris Griffin of Tacoma Country and Golf Club, Jeff Coston of Semiahmoo G&CC, and Keith Coleman of Harbour Pointe GC.

Birk Nelson of Diamond Woods GC was low for round two taking it deep with a 64. Chris “steady eddy” Griffin carded a 67 to keep him in the final group for the last round one shot behind Nelson. The lineup behind Nelson showed that it could be anyone’s championship going into the final round.

Chris Griffin did a fantastic job of keeping 2006 top money winner Jeff Coston off his back by eagling the 2nd hole and holding strong until Coston made eight birdies to take the lead by the 13th hole. Griffin played a great round under pressure and shot a final round 67, to end with a phenomenal 3 days of 65-67-67--199. But Jeff Coston put on his scuba gear and took it deep with eight birdies and no bogies to shoot a scorching 63 for a 3 day total of 65-68-63—196. With the Rosauers win, Coston has won four times already this season.

The Rosauers’ Open Invitational is a showcase event of the Pacific Northwest Section PGA and it is made possible by a small army of volunteers and dozens of sponsors. The title sponsor is Rosauers grocery store chains, which the Pacific Northwest Section PGA has enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with.

We would like to give Mike Shirts of Rosauers a huge thank you for his support and the giving of his time and generosity. We would also like to thank Roger Gores and his team of volunteers that oversee the Bank of America Pro-Am that is a huge success every year. We would also like to thank the rest of our sponsors including: Frito Lay, Williams Inland Distributors (who won the Pro-Am), Michelob Ultra, Tree of Life, and 7up. We would like to thank Host PGA Professional Gary Lindeblad who has hosted the Rosauers for the past 19 years. Superintendent Don Nelson and his crew are to be commended for the great job they did in preparing the golf course.