Hinkle leads Rosauers
Chris Griffin put together the kind of start he wanted during Friday’s opening round of the $135,000 Rosauers Open Invitational by burning up the front nine at Indian Canyon Golf Course with a 5-under-par 31.
The assistant pro at Tacoma Golf & Country Club tacked on a solid back nine as well to finish at 7-under 64.
Still, he found himself in a three-way tie with past champion Jeff Coston and Keith Coleman for second place and a stroke behind former PGA Tour regular Lon Hinkle heading into today’s second round of the richest PGA sectional event in the nation.
Hinkle, a three-time winner on Tour who is headquartered these days at Eagle Bend Golf Club in Bigfork, Mont., used five birdies and a pair of eagles to offset a double-bogey on the difficult par-4 14th and posted an opening-round 63.
“That’s just a terrific round of golf,” Griffin said of Hinkle, who placed third on the PGA Tour’s money list in 1979 when he made $247,693 and won both the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am and World Series of Golf. “Lon’s a tough guy to be chasing, but then, so’s Coston. Those guys aren’t going to back up, so you’d better keep your foot on the accelerator the whole way.”
Coston, a teaching pro at Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club in Blaine, Wash., and the 1997 Rosauers champion, bogeyed the par-4 ninth to make the turn in a modest 34, but then opened the back nine with four birdies and an eagle at the short par-5 12th and closed with a 31.
“I hit it very well today,” said Coston, who turned 50 last fall, “and I left a few shots out there, so I feel like I can get it going. And this is a tournament where you need to get it going. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my game and a lot about my teaching in the past two years, and I feel like both of those are operating on premium fuel right now.
“I know there are no guarantees out there, but I feel like I’m getting better with age.”
Coleman, from Harbour Pointe Golf Club in Mukilteo, Wash., matched Griffin’s front-nine 31 with a string of five consecutive threes on holes four through eight and shot a back-nine 34 that included a disappointing par on the 449-yard, par-5 18th, which is where Hinkle made one of his eagles – the other coming on the 12th.
Griffin, who tied for fourth in last year’s Rosauers, attributed his low opening-round score to his par-eagle-birdie start, but admitted more low numbers will be needed if he hopes to take home the $11,000 winner’s check when the 54-hole event concludes Sunday afternoon.
“Any time you can get off to a start like that, you need to keep it going, and I did. Seven birdies and one bogey – that’s just real solid, consistent golf.
“But you know, mentally, coming into this tournament that you have to play well and make a lot of birdies. Even par on this course isn’t going to get you very far.”
The Canyon’s picturesque 6,255-yard layout, which is playing to a par of 71, yielded 63 rounds of par or better, and 15 of those were posted by amateurs.
Spokane’s Alex Prugh, playing out of Manito Golf and Country Club, and Jack Kelly, from The Members Club in Aldarra (Fall City, Wash.), both shot 67 and are tied for low amateur and seventh place in the overall standings. Among the four professionals at that number is The Creek at Qualchan’s Mark Poirier.
Defending champion Ryan Benzel, who won last year’s title by six strokes, was one of 24 players to shoot even-par 71.
The 168-player field will be trimmed following today’s second round to the low 65 professionals and ties, along with all amateurs with scores in that range.