Thelen posts 72 in chase for record

Defending PGA Club Professional Champion Tim Thelen opened his chase for a record-tying third title Thursday with an even-par 72 that kept him in the hunt at tough Longaberger Golf Club.

By John L. Byrwa, Managing Editor

NASHPORT, Ohio (PGA.com) -- Tim Thelen's chase for a record-tying third PGA Club Professional Championship title this week is on the minds of a lot of people here -- except his own.

"Actually, the whole week I haven't thought about it," Thelen said Thursday afternoon after turning in a first-round, even-par 72 at tough Longaberger Golf Club. "The only time I do is when the media asks about it. I mean, I went home last night and slept good. I came out this morning and didn't hit the ball all that good on the range, but when the gun goes off something happens and I just start hitting the ball well."

Thelen, an assistant professional at Bushwood Golf Center in Houston, hit the ball well enough Thursday to not shoot himself out of the tournament, which features the nation's finest club professionals competing for a $450,000 purse ($60,000 to the winner).

Cary Hungate, the head professional at Kokomo Country Club in Kokomo, Ind.,carded a four-birdie, one-bogey 69 to grab the clubhouse lead at 3-under par.

Thelen also made four birdies but offset his with four bogeys, including one from the left rough on his final hole, the demanding 466-yard 18th, where he failed to get up and down from the front fringe.

"It plays a little bit uphill, and I had 149 to the front," Thelen said. "I thought I might have had a jumper, but it came out real soft and kind of floated. It almost got up to the top of the green but it rolled back down and it was a tough chip from there."

Still, the 43-year-old Thelen refused to let the late slip-up spoil his mood. With his wife, Lucinda, on his bag, Thelen said he got the most out of his round despite the fact he felt he could have performed better on the greens.

"I made enough birdies out there today, I just wasn't aggressive enough with my putting," Thelen said. "The greens are really, really good putting speed and you can get aggressive with them but I left a couple of putts that I thought I had made ... they got up to the hole and just wiggled a little bit. So what I'm gonna work on tomorrow is getting a little more aggressive with my putting and I should make a little more."

Make no mistake, Thelen is accustomed to making big putts.

He won the 2000 CPC at Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Okla., in a five-hole playoff over Mark Brown, then took last year's title by a single stroke at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. He has competed in the CPC six times, posting a 71.5 stroke average and earning $136,049. He also tied for second in 2001, shared fifth in 2002, tied for eighth in 1999 and shared 27th in his debut in 1998.

A win here would tie Thelen, a former college teammate of Colin Montgomerie's when the two were students at Houston Baptist University, with the late Larry Gilbert for the most CPC titles.

But before Thelen can think about clearing room on his trophy shelf for a third Walter Hagen Cup, he said must play cleaner golf than he did Thursday. Three times he followed a birdie with a bogey on the very next hole, halting any momentum he may have earned.

"Actually, I hit a lot of quality shots," Thelen said. "But I did hit some bad shots out there also, and I paid for the bad shots. This course is set up to where if you hit it in the rough, you're going to make bogey. When I hit it in the rough, I made bogey.

"When I hit good, quality irons shots in there and gave myself opportunities, I made birdie. The golf course is absolutely fabulous for this tournament. It's tremendous."

One of the bogeys came at the par-5 fourth hole, a devilish 563-yarder that Thelen has yet to figure out how to play. On Thursday, a wayward sand wedge approach led to a deflating bogey that left Thelen shaking his head.

"I made a mental mistake, which I have in the practice rounds, in the pro-am, everything," Thelen said. "I knocked a sand wedge over the green. That green's firm, and you've got to remember that. But I hit it a little too firm.

"Still, I'm not disappointed with 72 because around this golf course 72 is a good golf score."

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