SUNRIVER — Consistent rain in late June is hardly typical in Central Oregon.

But on Sunday, the golfers at the 2013 PGA Professional National were greeted with a sopping-wet first round that might have had some thinking they had made a wrong turn and landed in the Willamette Valley.

Fortunately for the 312 club professionals in the field, Sunriver saw the rain coming.

Sunriver Resort’s maintenance crews had not watered the Crosswater Club or the Meadows course, the host courses for the first two rounds of the PNC, for days leading up to the tournament, said Bill St. Jeor, superintendent at Crosswater. And that, he added, helped the courses absorb much of the precipitation.

Crosswater, which hosts the final two rounds of the PNC, replaced all 18 of its greens last year with new bentgrass turf, an upgrade that St. Jeor said dramatically improved drainage.

“The course has excellent drainage on the greens,” St. Jeor said. “The sod job we did a couple years ago, and removing a lot of the organic material, has really helped the drainage. I feel like the greens are going to hold up well.”

Even though forecasts call for more rain today, St. Jeor said he does not expect to do anything out of the ordinary to dry the course as long as there are intermittent breaks in the rainfall as there were on Sunday.

“Once the rain stops, the course will firm,” St. Jeor said. “This course can dry up awfully quick. I don’t foresee any real problems.”

Often the harshest critics, the golfers in the field seemed to approve. Players raved about the conditions at both Crosswater and Meadows.

“There was no standing water out there,” said Craig Hocknull, an Arizona pro who shot a 2-under-par 70 in his opening round at Crosswater. “The course held up great. I didn’t have any issues with water, wet lies or anything like that.”

Uneven play: No question which golf course was the more difficult on Sunday.

Twenty-four of the top 30 players on first-round leaderboard played at Meadows and two golfers — Corey Prugh of Spokane, Wash., and Rod Perry of Port Orange, Fla. — set the Meadows’ competitive course record with 8-under-par 63s. Four golfers shot 3-under 69 to post the low rounds at Crosswater.

The scoring average at par-72 Crosswater Club, which played at 7,479 yards during the first round, was a hefty 76.23 strokes. At 6,944-yard Meadows, a par 71, the scoring average landed more than three strokes lower at 72.98.

“I would say (Crosswater) is three strokes tougher,” said Jerrel Grow, a pro at Bend’s Pronghorn Club. “(Meadows) is the course you have to kind of score on.”

Double duty: The day for Ryan Benzel, a pro from Woodinville, Wash., did not end with his 2-under-par 69 at the Meadows course.

After his round, Benzel moved over to Crosswater, grabbed a microphone, and spent the evening as an on-course reporter for the Golf Channel.

Golf Channel is broadcasting live all four rounds of the PGA Professional National Championship.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun,” Benzel said of his turn as a reporter.

Lonely holes: Only two holes at Crosswater did the pros on the field play collectively at par or better.

The field averaged 4.949 strokes on Crosswater’s 547-yard, par-5 second hole. The scoring average on the 166-yard, par-3 13th hole was an even 3.0.