PGA Professionals relish opportunity to showcase skills

For most of the year, the best PGA Professional golfers are hidden behind desks, pro shop counters and the quirky swings of members whacking balls on the range. But for one glorious week, the best of the best get to tee it up in their national championship, an honor not lost on the 312 set to compete in the 40th PGA Professional National Championship.

By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

SUNRIVER, Ore. -- Billed as "The Heart and Soul of the Great Northwest," the Sunriver Resort in central Oregon lies in the foothills of the breathtaking snow-capped Cascade Mountains.

This week, the magnificent resort will play host to 312 of the country's best PGA Professionals at the 40th PGA Professional National Championship. Of the 312 players, 311 are men. Patricia Post, the head coach of the women's golf team at Georgetown University, will be just the second woman to play in this championship. Suzy Whaley out of Connecticut has done it twice and actually made the cut in 2005, finishing in a tie for 64th at Kiawah Island's Ocean course. Ironically, one of the 311 men in the field happens to be Brendon Post, Patricia's husband.

Only one player will have his or her name engraved on the coveted Walter Hagen Cup which goes to the winner, named after the legendary golfer who was a five-time PGA Champion and one of the 35 original founders of the PGA of America.

The top-20 finishers will earn an exemption into the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., in August. Along with one of the exemptions into the PGA of America's grandest championship, the winner of the PGA Professional National Championship will also receive a spot in the PGA Cup, as well as six PGA TOUR exemptions over a 12-month period.

Ron Philo Jr., from the Metropolitan Section and teaching professional out of Hudson National Golf Club in Croton on Hudson, N.Y., returns as the defending champ after defeating Indiana head professional Alan Schulte in three-hole playoff at the Turning Stone Resort in 2006.

Beginning on Thursday, the PGA Professional National Championship will be played over two courses at the Sunriver Resort. The field will alternate between the Meadows Golf Course and the Crosswater Golf Club over the first two rounds, while the third round and final round will be contested at the longer Crosswater. Crosswater -- with a 12th hole par-5 that measures a whopping 652 yards -- will play at 7,566 yards with a par of 72; Meadows will play at 6,969 yards and to a par of 71.

Several players lined the practice range at Crosswater on Wednesday, putting in final preparations before the tournament begins.

Burke Cromer, a 37-year-old from Northwoods Golf Club in Columbia, S.C., who tied for 56th at Turning Stone in 2006, said that the two courses in Sunriver don't have a whole lot in common with each other, or the two at Turning Stone.

"Turning Stone was real firm, so the ball was running out a lot. Out here the fairways are soft and we're going to hit a lot more long irons than we did at Turning Stone," Cromer said. "Last year, with the exception of the par 3s, I barely hit anything over 8- or 9-iron. It's going to be a lot different out here. Here we have a par 5 that -- I'm not saying I hit it real long, but I might have 170 or 180 yards on my third shot after hitting two good shots. You also have to get accustomed to the air here, which is a little different. It's thinner, so it'll fly a little more than it did last year. The Meadows course here is tight. The two that we played on last year were pretty generous off the tee. At the Meadows here, you can't hit it crooked at all or it's going to be in the rough and the rough is pretty tough on both golf courses."

David Bennett, a 29-year-old head professional at Stowe Mountain Club in Stowe, Vt., playing out the New England Section, is making in his first appearance in the PGA Professional National Championship, but said he was surprisingly calm and that had a lot to do with the scenery.

"So far it's been fantastic," Bennett said. "It's a beautiful resort out here in Sunriver and the weather has been fantastic, it's just like Vermont actually, and I'm feeling right at home with the mountains in the background. I'm looking forward to a great week and I know it's going to be relaxing no matter what happens or how the golf ball flies."

A common misconception is that PGA Professionals spend a lot of time playing golf, when in reality they probably play less than the weekend hacker. Aside from loads of paperwork, PGA Professionals are responsible for accommodating their members, giving lessons, managing a staff and providing the best experience possible for their guests. All of that leaves little time to work on their own games, which makes a trip to the PGA Professional National Championship all the more special. 

"It's quite nice, to be honest with you," Bennett said. "I think at some point we've all dreamt of playing this game as professionals, not just working as a professional. To be able to get back to those roots, hit some balls on the range and spend a full week dedicated to our games is something that I think we all really, really enjoy and it's something that doesn't happen very often as professionals that teach the game."

Simon McGreal is a PGA Teaching Professional at Precision Golf School in Greensboro, N.C. Like Bennett, the 37-year-old McGreal, who is originally from Manchester, England, is making his first appearance in a PGA Professional National Championship.

So what brought him to America?

"I'm out here in the states for my seventh year now and I'm loving it," he said. "The reason I came over, to be honest, was a girl, but golf was a very, very, very close second."

Unlike many others here at Sunriver, McGreal is an experienced playing professional, having teed it up in a couple of Nationwide Tour events over the last two years.

"It feels good to really just focus 100 percent for a whole week on my own game," he said. "I get a chance to play a little bit as it is. I teach quite a lot, but I'm looking forward to a very good week this week. We'll see what happens."

Tom Atchison, a 47-year-old PGA Head Professional at Silver Lake Country Club in Silver Lake, Ohio, is about to tee it up in his seventh PGA Professional National Championship. This one is particularly special for Atchison. He hasn't played in the championship since 2001, which coincidentally was also held at Sunriver. After a bogey at the 72nd hole that year, Atchison finished in a tie for 27th -- his best ever in this event -- but missed out on a playoff for a berth in the PGA Championship by a single shot.

"It would be great to get to play in the PGA Championship. It's always been a goal of mine," Atchison said. "I feel pretty good coming back here. It helps having played the course before."

Aside from competing to win the championship, there's no question that in the back of every player's mind this week there is the thought of hitting balls alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in Tulsa.

"It would be a dream come true," said Tony Perez, a 45-year-old PGA Head Professional from Clearwater Executive Golf Course in Florida, awed by the thought. "That's all I can say -- just a dream come true. I'm going to try to play to the best of my ability and if I'm there, I'm there."