Ohio's Golf Magazine May 2009 : Page 10

Ohio Well Represented in Senior PGA Championship Canterbury GC to host 70th championship in May If Cory George, PGA Head Professional at Valley View Golf Club in Lancaster, needs any tips going into his first major championship, he won’t have to go far to find some experienced counsel. George is one of four Ohio PGA club professionals who earned a spot in the Senior PGA Championship, May pretty well, and I was hoping to play a practice round with them up there and pick their brains.” Robison, Director of Golf at Brookside Country Club in Canton, will be making his fifth consecutive appearance in the Senior PGA Championship. He has made the cut in each of the last four years, carding his best finish (T52) in 2007 at Kiawah Island Resort in Kiawah Island, S.C. Robison, who lives less than an hour from Canterbury, said his familiarity with the course might help him, but he doesn’t think his experience in majors will be much of a factor. “It is an advantage if you hit it Cory George - Lancaster where you are looking,” Robison said. “But guys like Cory and I, we are not real, real comfortable because we are not doing it every week like the rest of the guys out there. We are not playing in that type of competition every week.” At 68 years old, Logue will be the Gary Robison - Canton 21-24 at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, by finishing in the top 35 at the 2008 Senior PGA Professional National Championship. He will be joined by fellow Ohio PGA club profes- sionals Thomas Herzan of Findlay and Gary Robison and Jim Logue of Canton, who have played in a total of 16 Senior PGA Championships and more than 30 major championships in their careers. “I have not talked with them about what to expect, but I might,” George told Ohio’s Golf. “I know Gary and Jim 10 MAY 2009 • WWW.OHIOSGOLF.COM third-oldest competitor in the field. He finished in a tie for 33rd at the Senior PGA Profession National Championship to earn his seventh appearance in the Senior PGA Championship. Logue, a PGA Life Member, was the head golf professional at Brookside for 34 years before he retired in 2006 and handed the reins to Robison. He has competed in two U.S. Open Championships, two U.S. Senior Open Championships, five PGA Championships and six Senior PGA Championships, and won the Ohio Open in 1980 and the Ohio Senior Open in 1993-1995. Herzan, a PGA teaching profes- sional at Findlay Country Club, had the best finish of the Ohio players at the Senior PGA Professional National Championship, October 2-5, at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, Calif., and Andalusia Country Club in La Quinta, Calif. He closed with a final round 4-under-par 68 to finish in a tie for fourth. This will be his 6th Senior PGA Championship. Herzan was a teaching professional at Canterbury from 1984-1987 before moving to Findlay. He has played in seven career non-majors on the Champions Tour, including three last year when he won $16,225. His career- best finish on the Champions Tour was T20 at the Turtle Bay Championship in 2005. Canterbury will become the second U.S. club behind Oak Hill Country Club to host all U.S. men’s rotating championships. Designed by Herbert Strong and opened for play in 1921, the last major it hosted was the 1996 U.S. Senior Open. In 1973, Jack Nicklaus won his 14th major in the PGA Championship at the course. For the Senior PGA Championship, the 6,895-yard, par-70 layout has been rerouted to enhance the viewing experience for spectators in hospitality areas inside or immediately outside the clubhouse, which recently underwent a $5 million renovation. It will also create significantly different front and back sides. Play on the par-34, 3,121-yard front nine will begin on the current No. 10 hole and continue through No. 15, after which players will wind back to the No. 1 tee and complete the regular front nine holes. They will then finish their rounds on the regular final three holes, which all play uphill, beginning with the 616-yard, par-5 16th and followed by the 229-yard 17th and the 439-yard, par-4 18th. The back nine, which will play to 3,774 yards, features the only par-5 holes on the tournament course, the 549-yard 15th and the 16th. The final four holes (1,833 yards) will be the second-longest finishing quartet in a senior major. Only the four closing holes at Congressional Country Club in the 1995 U.S. Senior Open (1,861 yards) will have played longer. Herzan has probably played the course more than any of the players in the tournament, but never in the order that will be utilized during the tournament. He doesn’t expect to play

Ohio Well Represented In Senior PGA Championship

If Cory George, PGA Head Professional at Valley View Golf Club in Lancaster, needs any tips going into his first major championship, he won’t have to go far to find some experienced counsel. George is one of four Ohio PGA club professionals who earned a spot in the Senior PGA Championship, May 21-24 at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, by finishing in the top 35 at the 2008 Senior PGA Professional National Championship. He will be joined by fellow Ohio PGA club professionals Thomas Herzan of Findlay and Gary Robison and Jim Logue of Canton, who have played in a total of 16 Senior PGA Championships and more than 30 major championships in their careers. “I have not talked with them about what to expect, but I might,” George told Ohio’s Golf. “I know Gary and Jim pretty well, and I was hoping to play a practice round with them up there and pick their brains.” Robison, Director of Golf at Brookside Country Club in Canton, will be making his fifth consecutive appearance in the Senior PGA Championship. He has made the cut in each of the last four years, carding his best finish (T52) in 2007 at Kiawah Island Resort in Kiawah Island, S.C. Robison, who lives less than an hour from Canterbury, said his familiarity with the course might help him, but he doesn’t think his experience in majors will be much of a factor. “It is an advantage if you hit it where you are looking,” Robison said. “But guys like Cory and I, we are not real, real comfortable because we are not doing it every week like the rest of the guys out there. We are not playing in that type of competition every week.” At 68 years old, Logue will be the third-oldest competitor in the field. He finished in a tie for 33rd at the Senior PGA Profession National Championship to earn his seventh appearance in the Senior PGA Championship. Logue, a PGA Life Member, was the head golf professional at Brookside for 34 years before he retired in 2006 and handed the reins to Robison. He has competed in two U.S. Open Championships, two U.S. Senior Open Championships, five PGA Championships and six Senior PGA Championships, and won the Ohio Open in 1980 and the Ohio Senior Open in 1993-1995. Herzan, a PGA teaching professional at Findlay Country Club, had the best finish of the Ohio players at the Senior PGA Professional National Championship, October 2-5, at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, Calif., and Andalusia Country Club in La Quinta, Calif. He closed with a final round 4-under-par 68 to finish in a tie for fourth. This will be his 6th Senior PGA Championship. Herzan was a teaching professional at Canterbury from 1984-1987 before moving to Findlay. He has played in seven career non-majors on the Champions Tour, including three last year when he won $16,225. His careerbest finish on the Champions Tour was T20 at the Turtle Bay Championship in 2005. Canterbury will become the second U. S. club behind Oak Hill Country Club to host all U.S. men’s rotating championships. Designed by Herbert Strong and opened for play in 1921, the last major it hosted was the 1996 U.S. Senior Open. In 1973, Jack Nicklaus won his 14th major in the PGA Championship at the course. For the Senior PGA Championship, the 6,895-yard, par-70 layout has been rerouted to enhance the viewing experience for spectators in hospitality areas inside or immediately outside the clubhouse, which recently underwent a $5 million renovation. It will also create significantly different front and back sides. Play on the par-34, 3,121-yard front nine will begin on the current No. 10 hole and continue through No. 15, after which players will wind back to the No. 1 tee and complete the regular front nine holes. They will then finish their rounds on the regular final three holes, which all play uphill, beginning with the 616-yard, par-5 16th and followed by the 229-yard 17th and the 439-yard, par-4 18th. The back nine, which will play to 3,774 yards, features the only par-5 holes on the tournament course, the 549-yard 15th and the 16th. The final four holes (1,833 yards) will be the second-longest finishing quartet in a senior major. Only the four closing holes at Congressional Country Club in the 1995 U.S. Senior Open (1,861 yards) will have played longer. Herzan has probably played the course more than any of the players in the tournament, but never in the order that will be utilized during the tournament. He doesn’t expect to play The course again until the pretournament practice rounds, but said the new routing won’t change his approach. “I don’t know if the strategy will be any different,” Herzan told Ohio’s Golf. “I plan to keep it under the hole because the greens can be pretty tricky. At that time of year it will play reasonably long, but not too long.” The 139-player field will include 25 major champions, 13 Ryder Cup captains and 10 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The defending champion is Jay Haas, who captured his second Senior PGA crown last year at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Other golfers in the field with Ohio ties will include former Ohio State teammates Joey Sindelar and John Cook, who partnered to finish T3 in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf betterball event April 24-26 in Savannah, Ga. Cook is 13th and Sindelar 4th on the Champions Tour money list going into the Regions Charity Classic, May 15-17, the final tune-up for the Senior PGA. Sindelar will be looking for his first major title and his first win on the Champions Tour. He told Ohio’s Golf in a December feature story that he expects to win on the senior tour. “I think I am good enough to win a couple of tournaments,” Sindelar said. “I am disappointed that I didn’t win one this year (in 2008), but I was very aware of the caliber of competition. They are actually better than I expected.” Sindelar said he wants to add a major championship to his seven PGA Tour trophies. I am very interested in winning a senior major,” Sindelar said. “I talked with Jay Haas and he said it was really cool. Every guy I have asked that won a senior tour major has said the same thing.” Cory George, who played collegiately at Purdue, has much more modest expectations. He hopes to play the weekend and will enjoy the experience, which will include spending time with his son Bleu, a sophomore on the Tiffin University golf team who will be his caddy during the week. “Whenever you are a PGA golf pro and you play golf for a living, it is nice to be treated like a Tour pro one time,” George said.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List