CPC Notebook: Caddie error costs Coston

Jeff Coston was already struggling mightily on the front nine Sunday before his caddie compounded his agony by breaking the rules and adding two more shots to his score.

By John L. Byrwa and Bob Denney

NASHPORT, Ohio (PGA.com) -- The wheels were already wobbling long before Jeff Coston got to the ninth tee Sunday at the 37th PGA Club Professional Championship. The third-round leader had bogeyed three of his first eight holes to fall three shots behind eventual winner Bob Sowards.

But when his caddie moved a towel on Sowards' bag to sneak a peak at what club Sowards was hitting on the 187-yard par-3, Coston incurred a two-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 8-1/11, which prohibits obtaining information about club usage through a physical act.

Coston went on to the bogey the hole, but had to pencil in a crippling triple-bogey 6 because of the two-shot penalty. He ended up with a 77 to fall into a tie for fourth place. The penalty also cost him $7,500.

But after his round, Coston, a teaching professional at Semiahmoo Golf Resort in Blaine, Wash., refused to lay any blame on his caddie and good friend, Dr. Mark Askew of Fargo, N.D.

"My caddie, who's probably one of the greatest guys in the world, just moved the guy's towel," Coston said. "And so it was a two-shot penalty.

"(Playing partner) Mike (Small) told me after I hit my shot, so I was way over on the other side of the tee and didn't see what was going on. That was the deal."

Sowards, who went on to shoot 70 and win by one over Small, said he tried to not let the incident bother him.

"That was unfortunate," Sowards said. "My caddie and I didn't know it had happened; it must have been while I was hitting on the tee. We just walked on after we heard and focused on the next hole."

After playing brilliantly for three days, an effort that included a Longaberger Golf Club course-record 64 on Saturday, Coston closed his tournament on a definite downer. Not even knowing he had secured a spot in the 86th PGA Championship at Whistling Straits could heal his bruised psyche.

"Right now I don't even care," Coston said. "You want to play for me? I mean, that really wasn't my goal. Honestly, my goal was to shoot under par every day, get into contention on the last nine holes. My goal was to let it go and be free and have fun.

"I did it for most of the time. Keep the razor blades away from me, will ya?"

Emotions get the best of Evenson: Mark Evenson shot a final-round 75 Sunday, but that wasn't what made his eyes mist up after his round.

Evenson, a teaching professional at Suburban Club in Pikesville, Md., was overcome with emotion after learning he was safely in the PGA Championship field after finishing with a 2-under-par total.

"I'm a little choked up, to tell you the truth," Evenson said as his eyes became watery. After taking a long moment to regain his composure and dab his eyes with a towel, he said, "I was leaking a little coming in and I kept it together. I was just trying to feed off of all the things I've done in the past, and it helped."

Evenson, who will be making his first appearance in a major championship, credited playing partner Steve Schneiter with helping him find his groove after a shaky start.

"We were getting behind a little bit, no doubt because of me because I was grinding my butt off," Evenson said. "And he kind of put things in perspective from the standpoint of giving me advice. He said in a very calming tone, 'If we speed up, we're going to play better golf.' I could see he was really pulling for me.

"It really helped. It got me going, got me worrying not about the future but the next shot."

Soon after Schneiter's little talk, Evenson birdied No. 7 and was on his way to Wisconsin.

"I'm really proud I hung in there," he said.

Savage attack falls short of PGA berth: Kevin Savage's attack upon par Sunday at Longaberger Golf Club came up a few strokes short of a dream trip.

Savage, a 39-year-old assistant professional at Turning Stone Casino Resort and Shenendoah Golf Club in Verona, N.Y., turned in a final-round 7-under-par 65 for a 72-hole total of 4-over-par 292. He tied the CPC final-round 18-hole record held by Jeff Roth of Flushing, Mich., who first set the mark in 1987.

Savage's furious finish wasn't enough to guarantee him a berth in his first major championship. He missed the low 25 demarcation point by three strokes. The low 25 scorers earned a berth in the 86th PGA Championship, Aug. 12-15, at Whistling Straits-Straits Course in Kohler, Wisc.

"I called my dad before the round and he said, 'Just play like you're in the lead,'" said Savage. "The difference today is in putting. I have been a crosshanded putter for 22 years. Today, I decided to split my hands apart on the putter and the ball was rolling a lot better. The first two days I had shot too much at the pins."

Savage made a brilliant recovery for par on the difficult par-5 fourth hole after hitting his second shot into the water.

"I dropped my ball, hit my approach up to a pin cut in the far right and made the putt," he said. "I thought to myself, 'Hmmm, we do have something good going on here.'"

Savage followed that by making a 30-foot birdie putt at the fifth, a 20-footer at the sixth, a 6-footer a the par-3 ninth and birdied the 10th with a 2-putt effort. He then hit what he thought was one of his best shots in many weeks.

"The pin on 18 was cut in the back left corner, and I cut a 6-iron in to the right part of the green and the ball funneled back down to about 6 feet," said Savage. "I buried that putt."

Not only was Savage putting better, with 29 putts, compared to 33 on Saturday, but he also hit 16 greens in regulation.

"I finally was able to make something, but I also am feeling a lot better coming into this Championship," said Savage. "I had taken new medication for rheumatoid arthritis in the past 2 1/2 months. It's made all the difference in the world for me.

I used to be in so much pain I could only get four hours of sleep."

Savage said that he would make a pitch to officials at the B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y., in an attempt to land a sponsor's exemption.

"I would like to use this performance as evidence that I can play," he said.

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