The Fall Tour is probably not among the best-known golf tournaments in Central Oregon.

But the four-day pro-am tournament is no less a tradition.

Played every year since 1980, the Fall Tour has long marked an unofficial ending to the golf season, at least in Oregon golf professional circles.

The tournament will tee off again today at Eagle Crest Resort’s Ridge Course with more than 170 golfers, 43 of whom are club professionals from around the state.

“As golf pros, and the people who go to pro-ams, we don’t get to spend that much time together anymore,” says Jeff Fought, the director of golf at Black Butte Ranch, who played in his first Fall Tour more than 25 years ago. “And it’s kind of neat to see the guys you only get to see once or twice a year.”

Fought, who is among the local pros scheduled to play in the tournament, is an important reason why the tournament presses on. It was Fought who volunteered to assume the direction of the tournament in 2011, taking over from the Oregon Chapter of the PGA of America.

That a Black Butte Ranch pro would run the tournament, though, is nothing new. The Fall Tour was originally centered around the vast resort about 8 miles northwest of Sisters, and it was run by its pros, such as Terry Anderson, J.D. Mowlds and Gene “Bunny” Mason.

Fought fondly remembers the popularity of the tournament in the 1980s forcing newcomers onto a yearslong waiting list to play.

“It was so hard to get into when I was 23 or 24 years old,” Fought says. “This was one of the highlights for the whole year.”

Some of the top professionals from around the state, along with local pros such as Fought, Tim Fraley of Awbrey Glen Golf Club, Bob Garza of Lost Tracks Golf Club and others, will play in this year’s tournament.

About 70 percent of the field is age 50 or older, and many players, such as Jerry Mowlds, a Portland-area pro who has long been one of the most respected golf instructors in the state, have participated in the Fall Tour for years.

“It is a labor of love,” says Anderson, the head pro at Black Butte Ranch’s Big Meadow. He missed last year’s tournament for the first time in 27 years. “Basically it’s a great tradition, some teams play in it for many years, and it is really looked forward to.”

The tournament has always featured a unique format. For one thing, a four-day pro-am is a rarity. And the tournament rotates to different courses each day, moving from Eagle Crest on Monday to Broken Top Club in Bend on Tuesday, then to Black Butte’s Glaze Meadow and Big Meadow courses for the third and fourth rounds, respectively.

Cash prizes are awarded for each day’s round as well as for the combined total for the first and second day, and the total for the third and fourth rounds. Amateurs will also play against each other, and each day features a team game. All those games help the money pile up fast for a professional with a hot hand.

That the tournament has had a full field for years goes beyond prize money, though.

“It says a lot for Central Oregon,” Fought says. “Most golf pros who I talk to, there is this certain romance with Central Oregon, and they love it over here.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.