A grand Canyon run

On a day when Indian Canyon Golf Course flashed its fangs and made ridiculously low scores tough to come by, Ryan Benzel found a way to throw one together.

The 29-year-old head professional at Mill Creek Country Club and former standout for Ritzville High School and the University of Idaho, tamed the 6,255-yard, par-71 Canyon layout – which was playing uncharacteristically hard and fast – with an opening round of 7-under-par 64 Friday to take the first-day lead in the 21st annual Rosauers Open golf tournament.

Benzel, who won the Pacific Northwest PGA’s richest event in 2005, offset his lone bogey of the day on hole No. 14 with six birdies and an eagle-3 on the par-5 second to forge a two-stroke lead over Brian Nosler, a club-fitting pro at Landon Farms Golf Course in Aurora, Ore., heading into today’s second round of the 54-hole event.

Former Ferris High School and University of Arizona star Reid Hatley, who is working as an assistant at Hayden Lake Country Club, is another stroke back at 67 and one ahead of nine others, including past champions Jeff Coston and Rob Gibbons, who are bunched at 68.

Among those tied with Coston and Gibbons at 3 under are Tamarisk (Calif.) Country Club head professional and former Eastern Washington University standout Kyle Kelly, Deer Park Golf Course head professional Craig Schuh and Gonzaga University golf coach Robert Gray.

But Benzel, who has qualified for the 2008 PGA Championship that will be held Aug. 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich., firmly established himself as the man to beat by shooting a 5-under 30 on the front side at Indian Canyon, which is playing to its old configuration during the tournament.

“It was nothing spectacular, but I played pretty solid all day long,” Benzel said. “My front nine was just a little more steady than my back.”

Benzel, who started his round on the 10th hole, birdied the 12th and 13th before making a bogey-5 on the difficult 438-yard 14th. He made the turn at 2-under 34 and then kick-started his back nine by rolling in a 20-foot downhill putt for an eagle-3 on the short, par-5 second.

Nosler, playing in the Rosauers for the first time as a professional, also started on No. 10 and got off to a rocky start by making bogey on the 14th and 16th holes. But he made amends for his early transgressions with a birdie-eagle finish on his front nine and then added three birdies on the back to keep Benzel in sight.

“I drove it well today and hit a lot of good iron shots, which was kind of surprising,” Nosler said. “The last few weeks I’ve been really struggling with my game. I know my pro-am partners back home wouldn’t believe what I shot today.”

Hatley, who is also playing professionally in the Rosauers for the first time, used eagles on the par-5 12th and par-5 18th to offset a two-stroke lost-ball penalty on No. 2 and keep himself in contention.

“It could have been a really good round, but, then, I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations coming in,” Hatley said. “I’ve only played one time since the Oregon Open (in June).”

Hatley eagled the 12th by knocking a 5-iron approach shot to within 10 feet of the hole and draining his putt and then barely missed a double-eagle on the 449-yard, uphill 18th when his approach shot from 165 yards out lipped out and finish less than 2 inches from the cup.

“It was a lot of fun out there today – except for the lost ball,” Hatley said. “This is just a fun course to play.”

The Rosauers, which benefits the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, continues today, with tee times starting at 7:30 a.m. The field will be cut to the low 65 professionals and ties, and all amateurs within that range, after today’s second round.