Kelli Berg, right, returns the ball to Nick Petterson Wednesday in the Mixed Doubles Split Pro division at the Pacific Northwest Classic national pickleball tournament at Pine Nursery Park in Bend.

Just as the sport of pickleball has grown in the past decade, so too has the Pacific Northwest Classic tournament.

The five-day pickleball tournament that got its start on temporary courts at Juniper Ridge has become an event with more than 150 volunteers, more than a dozen sponsors and nearly 550 participants. It attracts some of the top pickleballers in the country with cash prizes.

It has been hosted three of the past four years. One year was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve had tournaments longer than we have had courts,” said Christine Gestvang, a co-director of the tournament. “There were probably 130 players here that first year, it is certainly growing.”

The tournament started on Wednesday on the courts at Pine Nursery Park and will be played through Sunday. Gestvang says the tournament lucked out this year, avoiding the smoke that intruded Central Oregon early this week, which would have forced play indoors.

The heat in Bend is much more manageable than last year’s tournament, in which temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.

One of the tournament’s new elements this year is the addition of split doubles. That involves pairing players 50 and older with younger players and pro players.

The more than 500 participants are playing for $34,450 in cash prizes, which will be distributed among the top three finishers in the eight divisions.

“It was very casual when it started, but now it is much more serious,” Gestvang said. “There is money involved. People make a living doing this. Some of our pro players have left their careers to focus on pickleball.”