Pros assess the Rosauers Open course

As 168 professional golfers tee off Friday in the first day of the Rosauers Open, course conditions appear prime for a challenging three days of golf. After the second round of the Rosauers Open Invitational Sponsor Pro-Am Thursday, many golfers reported that Indian Canyon Golf Course is excellent condition, with a few nuances that could make low scores elusive. “It (the course) is playing pretty well,” said Gary Lindeblad, head pro at Indian Canyon. “We had some rain, which helped.” The bunkers have been replenished with fresh sand this year, Lindeblad said. Fresh sand makes it more difficult to get out of a bunker when the ball gets trapped there, he said. While the sand traps are fresh and tougher than usual, the greens are playing slow, said Ryan Malby, head professional at Village Greens Golf Course, in Kalispell, Mont. Slow greens, he says, make it harder to gauge how far the ball will roll on a putt. “The longer the putt, the harder it is to get the pace,” Malby said. “If you’ve got a 40 footer, you might three putt.” Malby has played in the Rosauers Open for 14 consecutive years, and he says the key to success is to drive the ball accurately and controlling the distance shots, lest it ends up in the woods or brush that frequently hug the course’s fairways. While the course leaves little margin for error, Malby said, “I’m going to get way more aggressive this year” in hopes of scoring low and being in the mix come Sunday. Joey Reibel, head golf professional at Fairwood Golf and Country Club, in Renton, Wash., is competing in the Rosauers Open for the first time this year and played Indian Canyon for the first time during the pro-am. Prior to playing, Reibel said he’d been told the course was hilly and tight, and it certainly lived up to its reputation, he said. His first round of the pro-am didn’t go well, he said, but his second round went much better. Because the course is tight, Reibel said he likely will take a more conservative approach in the tournament. In many cases, he’ll use irons off the tees, he said, in order to hit more accurately. “I want to keep it in play,” he said. Indian Canyon is a 72-par, 6,255-yard course. Its slope index, a rating used to gauge a course’s difficulty, is 126, above the 113 slope rating for average-difficulty courses. The course rating, which indicates what a scratch golfer—one who shoots par or better—should expect to shoot on a typical 18-hole round, is 70.7. The Rosauers Open starts Friday, with a mix of pros and amateurs playing three rounds, 54 holes, during the three-day weekend. The first rounds start every morning at 7:30 a.m.