Rosauers Open/2009

Prugh Sets Tournament Record

By Andrew Homce

Indian Canyon GC was in prime scoring conditions for this year’s Rosauers Open Invitational. An opening round of 63 left Corey Prugh of Manito G&CC (Spokane, WA), with a one stroke lead over Tim Feenstra of Broadmoor GC (Seattle, WA).

Prugh continued his dominance over the field and the 6,255 yard track with another eight-under-par round of 63 in the second round. His nearest competitor, amateur Nick Ellis of Washington State University, was five strokes back with a two day total of 11-under-par 131. Feenstra and Chris Griffin of Tacoma, WA were six shots off the pace at 132.

With Prugh and the other leaders not teeing off until noon on the final day of competition, there was plenty of time for players and onlookers to speculate on the 28 year-old Prugh’s chances of breaking the tournament record of 193 set in 2004 by Scott Johnson and 2005 by Ryan Benzel, last years’ Pacific Northwest Player of the Year.

Things looked promising early in the final round for Chris Griffin with solid ball striking and with an early bogey by Prugh on the 5th hole. Prugh was quoted saying after the round of his putt, “Actually, the weird crucial shot was the par putt on five that didn’t go in. It was the first putt I hit all day that I hit where I wanted to.”

With renewed confidence in his putting stroke the $11,000 first place prize and the tournament record were Prugh’s for the taking. He fought back and finished the front nine at even par for the day. The back nine saw Prugh put on a clinic that included birdies on 10, 11, 13, 16, and 18 in route to a 5 under-par 31.

A final round 66 gave Prugh the wire-to-wire victory and the new tournament record at 192, 21 under-par. Prugh’s performance marked the third time in only six years the tournament record was either set or broken.

For the most part Prugh was unaware of his record setting performance. “To be honest, I think I remember Benzel maybe getting to 20 (under par),” he said after the round. “But I really cared a lot more about winning than I did about the record.”

Not to be outdone the Oregon Open Invitational Champion, Brian Nosler of Vanco Driving Range (Vancouver, WA), shot a final round 62 for the one day tournament scoring record. Remarkably, Nosler’s back nine 32 included back-to-back bogies on 14 and 15 and a missed eagle on the finishing hole. His 62 was good enough to grab him a solo second place finish and his second straight event where he broke a tournament scoring record. He broke the Oregon Open Invitational 54-hole tournament record last month at Brasada Ranch. Griffin shot a final round 65 to finish in third. Low amateur honors went to Nick Ellis who finished in solo 4th.

The real winner of this years’ event is the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery which raised $125,000 from the week long event. This event has raised over $1.8 million dollars for the charity since the event started twenty-two years ago. Thank you to the sponsors that make this event one of the richest in the country and PGA Professional Gary Lindeblad and his staff at Indian Canyon for their dedication to the Pacific Northwest PGA Tournament Program.