Coston won’t bow to fatigue
Defending champion Jeff Coston won’t be as well rested as he would like heading into the 20th annual Rosauers Open Invitation golf tournament.
But that doesn’t mean anyone should count out the 51-year-old teaching pro when he tees it up for Friday’s opening round of the 54-hole Northwest PGA Section event at Indian Canyon Golf Course.
Coston, who run his own golf academy out of Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club in Blaine, Wash., comes in on a good roll, having finished tied for 33rd – along with the likes of Gil Morgan, Scott Simpson, Peter Jacobsen and Bruce Lietzke – in the United States Senior Open, which concluded its four-day run at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., on Sunday.
He arrived home from the Senior Open at 3 a.m. Monday, returned to work later that morning and planned to put in full days on Tuesday and Wednesday before leaving for Spokane.
“If you’re in the golf business, there’s always fatigue this time of year,” Coston said. “But I should be able to handle it.”
It might help that Coston will be coming to a golf course he thoroughly enjoys playing and a city he feels is his second home.
“I love Spokane, I love the Rosauers tournament and I look forward to defending my championship – no question about it,” said Coston, who picked up the second Rosauers title of his career last summer by firing at final-round 63 that left him three strokes clear of his nearest competitor.
This year’s event, which kicks off this morning with a two-day pro-am, features a $135,000 professional purse and a winner’s check of $11,000.
Host professional Gary Lindeblad, one of seven past champions among the 168 players entered in the tournament proper, puts Coston near the top of his list of favorites, along with Ryan Benzel, Todd Erwin, Rob Gibbons and Chris Griffin, who are also former champions.
“It’s as strong a field as we’ve ever had,” Lindeblad said. “But you can never overlook Coston. He’s a real player.”
Coston, who also finished in a tie for 19th as the low club professional in this year’s Senior PGA Championship at Kiawah Island (S.C.) Golf Resort, said he doesn’t plan on changing the approach he used in last weekend Senior Open, where he opened with back-to-back rounds of 70 before succumbing to the treacherous Whistling Straits layout.
“Obviously, Whistling Straits is a little more challenging than Indian Canyon, but golf is golf,” he said. “At the U.S. Senior Open, you have to hit fairways. Well, guess what? If you don’t hit fairways at Indian Canyon, you’re not going to score well either.”
Indian Canyon, which plays to a par of 71 for the Rosauers, is a mere 6,255 yards in length, but features tight, tree-line fairways and dramatic elevation changes that made level lies hard to find. In addition, Lindeblad said the rough will be long, the greens fast and hard and the bunkers – which have been redone with a fluffier kind of sand – more penal.
“It should be another great tournament,” Lindeblad said.