Carey Scrambles Into Lead Oregon Player Heads Bunched Field In Rosauers Open Golf Tournament

When did the Rosauers Open turn into a scramble tournament?

Apparently, only a few moments after golfers began teeing off in Friday’s first round.

O.K., so it wasn’t the scramble format that you use at your company golf outing.

But anybody who came anywhere near the leaderboard did so by scrambling through the Indian Canyon trees and past a pack of pros knotted near par.

Leader Tom Carey from Heron Lakes in Portland, for instance, fired a 65 in a round that was part golf, part orienteering. His caddy carried a compass, signal flares and a Stihl. All were put to good use.

Former champ Mike Davis carded a 67, meanwhile, by scrambling to improbable pars with radar-guided chips after missing several greens with approaches.

The rest of the field? Well, 79 golfers constitute a massive clump between 3-under and 3-over after one round at the par-71 course.

It added up to a typical day at the Canyon - chirping birds, the sound of balls thumping off pine trunks followed by the occasional muttered profanity.

The field will go at it again this morning with tee times between 7:30 a.m. and 2:27 p.m. After today’s round, the field will be trimmed to the top 65 pros, including ties.

Good luck with that job.

No one was able to break from the pack until late in the day.

Carey, in fact, was in the final group to tee off on the back side, starting at No. 10.

The wait didn’t bother him, though, as he chipped in for a birdie on 11 and bagged an eagle with a 40-foot putt on 12 to go to 3-under after his first three holes.

“The temptation then is to start thinking ‘Protect it, protect it,’ ” said Carey, winner of last year’s Pacific Northwest Section championship and this year’s Oregon PGA title.

It wasn’t until 18 that Carey really began to show how he deals with trouble.

On that uphill par 5, Carey hooked his drive some 20 yards into the trees; so bad, in fact, that he hit a provisional drive.

But he ultimately found his ball, punched it out and ended up with a birdie.

“I end up 3-under at the turn, but I’m not at all excited because I’m hitting it so bad,” Carey said.

He continued to unravel, bogeying No. 1 and hooking a 1-iron deep into the jungle on the par 5 No. 2. Carey had given up the search for his ball and turned to go back to the tee to reload when the caddy of another player unearthed his errant ball.

How did he respond? By punching out and holing a chip shot for another birdie.

“I couldn’t believe it. I told my caddy that if I’d have hit the ball good today, I’d probably shot a 75,” Carey said.

Carey, a high-school All-America basketball player who initially attended Oregon State on a hoop scholarship, played basketball at Spokane Falls CC in 1973 and 1974. So he has plenty of experience at the Canyon.

But he never shot better - or more creatively - than he did Friday.

Actually, Carey was a late addition to the field. He discovered the entry form six days after the deadline, but called anyway and got himself put on the alternate list. His was the 12th name.

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, he learned he had been included in the field. Davis, of Eagle Ridge in Redmond, Ore., got hot near the end of the front nine, getting a birdie on 8 and holing a sand wedge from 85 yards for an eagle 2 on No. 9.

“The danger there is getting too juiced up and getting so excited that you swing too hard after something like that,” Davis said. “But I was able to keep my tempo pretty well.”

Three times he was able to chip to within a foot after misguided approaches.

Thirty-nine players follow within four strokes of Davis, including last year’s champ Greg Whisman (68), Twin Lakes pro Joe Trembly (68), Qualchan pro Mark Gardner (69), U of Idaho’s Dan Koesters (69), the Canyon’s Gary Lindeblad (69), Valley View’s Mark Rohde and local amateurs Kent Brown (70) and Jared Jeffries (71).

Whisman stands in strong position to defend his title, despite missing a 3-footer for birdie on his final hole.

“Everybody is bunching up and it’s going to be exciting (today),” Whisman said. “Guys like to go out and play a little conservative the first round, but everybody will start making their moves now.”

Notes

Most golfers seemed surprised that more scores in the mid-60s hadn’t been carded.

The condition of the course was lauded frequently, but the placement of the pins Friday gave the Canyon a bit more bite than was expected.

“They’ve got the pins at the edges, so many holes have sucker pin settings,” said Lindeblad, the host pro. “You tend to get a little overconfident and go for them until you get spanked a couple of times. Then then you go back to plan B. This course really makes you think.”

Best quip from a spouse: Rohde’s even-par round came despite 35 putts and a triple-bogey on the par-3 No. 13.

He explained that the pin on 13 was on the back-left and a little wind was blowing, which caused his “6 iron to air mail the green.”

His wife, Deb, quickly observed that it “must have had the wrong postage.”

The stats folks in the PNWGA trailer came up with a breakdown of how the holes played Friday. Perhaps as expected, No. 5 and No. 14 - two deadly par-4s - were the most difficult with the average score being 4.7 on 5 and 4.6 on 14.

Best quote by a father: Davis was helped with his round by 15-yearold son/caddy Brien.

How did young Brien do? “He did a good job,” father Mike said. “He didn’t crash the cart and never screamed during my backswing.”

Toughest round: This dubious distinction goes to Bob Wagner of Seattle. Wagner got an 11 on No. 6, ran out of balls and eventually decided not to even sign his scorecard - resulting in a disqualification.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Leaderboard Leaders after Friday’s first round of the Rosauers Open at Indian Canyon Golf Course, 6,255-yard, par-71: Tom Carey……..65 Mike Davis…….67 David Siedelman..68 Greg McMillan….68 Mike Barnett…..68 Joe Trembly……68 Joe Carranza…..68 Greg Whisman…..68 Wayne Clark……68