Lilac gets kick in the purse

As dear as he still holds the Lilac Invitational golf tournament to his heart, John Durgan has never relished the idea of soliciting donations for the event.

But this year, with the help of tournament director and PGA professional Kris Kallem and his assistant, Corey Whittle, Durgan has rounded up several new sponsors, whose contributions have considerably enhanced the purse of this year’s tournament.

“We’ve got a bunch of new sponsors on board this year,” explained Durgan, who serves as president of the Lilac Association and golf operations director of The Fairways at West Terrace golf course, where the 47th Lilac Invitational will open its annual four-day run on July 6. “They’ve added some excitement, along with some additional money to the event.”

For the past several years, Durgan has managed to scrape together just enough money to keep the payoff for the winner of the tournament’s professional division at a respectable $5,000. This year, with the additional sponsorships and increased contributions from several old sponsors, Durgan expects the purse to increase by at least $10,000, which could translate into as much as $7,000 for the tournament champion.

“We’ll pay at least $6,000 to the winner,” he said. “Whether we can get that to $7,000, I don’t know. It will all depend on how many entries we get.”

In addition to bumping the purse, tournament officials have also spiced up the event’s traditional Saturday night barbecue with live music and a hole-in-one contest that will give selected participants a chance to win a new house located on the golf course.

“It’s all in keeping with our theme of ‘Went to a party and a golf tournament broke out,’ ” said Durgan, noting that the popular long-drive contest – a longtime staple of the annual barbecue – will also take place following Saturday’s third round of action.

“Our biggest goal is still to make sure people have fun.”

The hole-in-one contest will be sponsored by Tomlinson Black and Adams & Clark and will require contestants to fill out an entry form. The names of 10 entrants will be drawn to compete in the contest, which will be staged on the 18th hole.

According to Durgan, tees will be set up in the middle of the 18th fairway, which plays over a pond to a steeply sloped green.

“The men will play from 165 yards out and the women from 150,” he explained. “The 10 people chosen to participate will get one shot at the hole, and if they knock it in, they win a $300,000 home.”

Durgan said this year’s tournament will also accept golfers with handicaps up to 18. In past years, the handicap limit has been 13.

“That could mean we’ll add a fifth flight,” Duran said. “Again, it all depends on the number of entries and how they break down.”

The tournament, the only 72-hole event in the region, was founded by Durgan’s late father, Joe, who was a longtime head professional at Downriver Golf Course before moving to The Fairways in 1987.

During last year’s event, souvenir glasses commemorating its 46th anniversary were distributed. Those glasses were inscribed with one of Joe Durgan’s favorite pieces of advice: “When it’s breezy, swing easy.”

As a way of keeping Joe Durgan’s name associated with the tournament, one of the sponsors suggested his son come up with another of his quotations to inscribe on the souvenir glasses that will be distributed during this year’s tournament.

“He asked if my dad had any other favorite sayings,” Durgan explained. “I told him he used to always tell people, ‘Get your *$#!&*! cart off the tee box!’ “

So Lilac fans should not be surprised if that gem of Joe Durgan advice shows up on this year’s souvenir glasses.

It certainly fits the theme of the Lilac Invitational.

Course adds honor

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s popular Circling Raven Golf Club will add to its impressive resume late next month when the Native American Casino magazine hits the newsstands.

The August edition of the magazine, which focuses on golf in Indian Country, will reportedly name the Gene Bates-designed layout in Worley, Idaho, the No. 1 casino resort course in the nation.

“This list isn’t just the best of Indian Country,” said Dave Christenson, the director of golf at Circling Raven, which opened in the fall of 2003 and was named one of Golf Digest’s Top 10 Best New Courses the following year. “It includes many of the nation’s top-rated courses in any category. Anywhere on this list would represent a tremendous honor, but being at the top of it is a staggering accomplishment for architect Gene Bates, the tribe and all of us here at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel.”

Native American Casino’s list of its “Top 10” tribal courses for 2006 has yet to be made public, but officials at Circling Raven were informed of their selection as the No. 1 layout earlier this week.