Aspen Lakes hosts PGA sectional

The top club professional golfers in the Pacific Northwest will tee off at Aspen Lakes this month in the Pacific Northwest Section Club Professional Championship (PNWCPC).

The event will begin Monday, August 23 and conclude Wednesday, August 25. The format for the tournament will be 54 holes, stroke play.

The Pacific Northwest Section PGA is one of 41 geographical regions of the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of America and includes Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Northern Idaho and Western Montana.

Jeff Ellison, Director of Tournament Operations said, "This section is the largest geographical section of the PGA of America, with approximately 1,150 PGA members and apprentices dedicated to making golf a better game."

Ellison said, "The Pacific Northwest Section PGA has deemed this 'Sectional Qualifier' as our Section Championship and this brings out most of our top tournament players. The Section Championship has been running since 1957 and is considered one of our five major events of the year."

Wayne Clark, head golf pro at Aspen Lakes, will play. It will also be his first experience as the host professional of a major PGA event.

"I know it will be difficult to concentrate on golf because I'll have lots of other responsibilities," said Clark. "It's sort of like a double edged sword. On one hand I know the course better than everybody else and I should have a home course advantage, but on the other hand it may be difficult to concentrate on golf and not think about work. I've played a lot of tournament golf and this will be a new experience. It'll be exciting to see how I respond to it."

Eighty-four professionals will compete for the $3,500 first place check and the 14 players with the lowest score will advance to the Western Regional Club Professional Championship at Diablo Grande Golf Course in Patterson, California, October 14-17.

Ellison said, "These 14 players will have a chance to compete in the 2005 PGA Club Professional Championship in June of 2005 at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. This showcase event for PGA Professionals features a purse of $300,000, with live television coverage for all four rounds by The Golf Channel."

Results, tee times and additional information can be found at www.pnwpga.com. Results will posted on the website each evening.