PGA Professional Championship tees off Sunday in Sunriver

Published 10:28 pm Friday, June 16, 2017

Crosswater Club in Sunriver will host the 2031 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 2036 U.S. Junior Amateur.

The 50th PGA Professional Championship, featuring top club professionals from across the country, tees off Sunday at Sunriver Resort’s Crosswater Club and Meadows Course. More than 300 golfers will try to qualify for the PGA Championship — the final major tournament of the PGA Tour season.

Sunriver is hosting the PGA Professional for the fourth time; the tournament was also staged at the resort in 2001, 2007 and 2013.

The field of 312 players will be trimmed to the top 90 and ties after two rounds and then to the top 70 after three rounds. The tourney concludes Wednesday.

Rich Berberian Jr., from Hooksett, New Hampshire, is in the field to defend his 2016 PGA Professional title. Other former champions entered include Mike Small, from Champaign, Illinois, who has won three championships (2005, 2009, 2010); a fourth would be a PGA Professional record. Matt Dobyns, from Glen Head, New York, won titles in 2012 and 2015 and looks to join Small and Larry Gilbert as three-time winners of the tournament.

Oregon Open Invitational champion Russell Grove, from Couer d’Alene, Idaho, is in the field, which includes three Oregon residents: Tigard’s Scott Erdmann and Brent Murray, and Portland’s Bryan Tunstill.

Admission is free. Spectators are encouraged to park at the La Pine Rural Fire Department Fire Station south of Crosswater on South Century Drive and ride a shuttle to the golf courses.

Live television coverage of the tournament is planned by Golf Channel: 2:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday; 5-8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 4-7 p.m. Wednesday.

For more information about the PGA Professional, including tee times, visit www.pga.org

Marketplace