Sports in brief: Benzel loses ‘wow’ factor

Golf: When Ryan Benzel of Bothell, Wash., tees off at 1:45 p.m. in Thursday’s PGA Championship, don’t expect him to be overcome by the magnitude of playing in golf’s final major of the season.

For Benzel, playing in the PGA Championship has become routine. This will be the third straight year Benzel has been one of 20 club pros who qualified for the event.

“I don’t think there will be that ‘wow’ factor that’s been there before,” said Benzel, 30, who grew up in Ritzville and is a teaching pro at Battle Creek Golf Course in Tulalip and at Southcenter. “The first year it was kind surreal. And then last year, it was like, ‘Wow, I made it again.’ This time I can just focus on playing good golf.”

Benzel played four years at the University of Idaho.

Seattle Times

Oakes, Gray, Durfey score well

Rodeo: Zach Oakes of Elk, Wash., scored an 87 on a bull called Shorty Cash to win the Lea County Fair in Lovington, N.M., last weekend.

Oakes earned $5,487, then added another $5,381 when his 91-point ride aboard Tokyo Ranger tied for first in Lawton, Okla., giving him almost $54,000, 14th in the current standings.

Cheney bareback rider Ryan Gray tied for third and won $1,845 in Lovington and won the Omak Stampede, earning $2,850 for his 84-point ride on Flying Five’s Bay Lady.

A week earlier, Gray tied a PRCA record with a 94-point ride in Eagle, Colo., which earned him $2,508. Gray has won first-place money at 10 rodeos this year and has season earnings of $70,000, good for seventh place.

Colbert calf roper Tyson Durfey has won nine rodeos, six in Canada, and is sitting sixth in the standings with more than $62,000.

Dave Trimmer

Carroll trails Sioux Falls in poll

Football: The University of Sioux Falls is picked No. 1 in the preseason NAIA football coaches’ poll.

Sioux Falls received 17 of the 18 first-place votes in the poll and 418 points, 16 more than second-ranked Carroll College of Montana.

Carroll College has won five of the past seven NAIA national championships, while Sioux Falls has won two of the past three. Sioux Falls beat the Saints of Helena 23-7 in last year’s title game at Rome, Ga.

Associated Press