The Front Row with MARK NELKE July 17, 2011

Geno Bonnalie counted seven blisters on his hand the other day - and that was more than a week after the Lewiston golfer made his bid to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records by playing as many rounds as he could in one week.

His right knee hurt so bad during the week that he had to have a doctor come to the course and give him a cortisone shot.

He developed a huge blister on the pad of his left thumb from swinging the club so many times.

But he wasn't about to stop.

Yes, he wanted a world record. But Bonnalie was also playing for Tina, who is a cousin of his wife, Holly. Tina, 7, suffers from a disease called cystinosis, for which there is no cure. Cystinosis is a genetic metabolic disease in which the amino acid cystine gets into the cells, but has no way out, and crystallizes, causing early cell death. Cystinosis slowly destroys the organs in the body, including the kidney, liver, eyes, muscles and the brain.

He was playing to raise money and awareness for the disease.

"Tina is such a sweet girl, and to hear some of the conversations between her and her parents about her wanting to be healthy and start feeling good and stop throwing up ... they're heartbreaking," Bonnalie said.

Tina, who lives in Clarkston, is the niece of Ron Jacobson, a Post Falls city councilman.

"Ron, he was one of my designated ball tee-er-uppers," Bonnalie said.

Starting early on Monday, June 27 and finishing late on Sunday, July 3, Bonnalie played 111 rounds plus two holes at the Lewiston Country Club, where he is a member. The record for most holes played in a week was 1,850.

Bonnalie, 27, also recorded 493 birdies, bettering the old record of 250. And he had a stretch of 67 birdies during a 12-hour period late in his first day of play. The previous record was 54.

THE IDEA took root last winter, when Bonnalie gave his brother-in-law a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records for Christmas. While thumbing through the golf records, Geno noticed the one about most holes played in a week and thought it would be “really cool to try.”

Bonnalie played at Lewiston High, graduating in 2002, and interned at the Coeur d’Alene Public and at Prairie Falls Golf Club while he was at the University of Idaho and considering going into the golf profession.

He plays to a plus-2 handicap — which means he has to ADD two strokes to his score in competition.

To be eligible for the record, he had to follow the rules of golf. He had to hole out every putt, if he had a lost ball, he had to go back and hit again. He could have others pick the ball out of the hole, and tee up balls on the next tee — saving strain on the back from bending over thousands of times.

That’s where his father-in-law came in. Jacobson stayed in front of his son-in-law, teeing up three balls on the next tee so they would be ready once Geno holed out. The extra ones were in case the first one went out of bounds or was believed to be lost.

“I think I should be in the record book for most balls teed up in a week,” Ron joked.

Geno had to have two witnesses at all times, people he was not related to, and the longest they could “work” was a four-hour shift. Volunteers could help with ball marks, and fix divots.

To speed things up, Geno could use a different ball on each hole, but it had to be the same brand. He used a Srixon tour yellow ball which was “super bright,” he said. Srixon donated the balls for the week.

“My dad (Jim) said, ‘You’re going to find out what you’re made of this week,’” Geno said.

Teeing off just before 5 a.m. each day, Bonnalie played 18 rounds (324 holes) on Monday, 16 rounds each on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 17 rounds on Friday, 16 rounds on Saturday and the rest on Sunday before stopping around 7 p.m.

“My knee was bugging me so bad I said ‘That’s enough,’” said Bonnalie, who later wished he’d kept plugging along — saying he could have got in another 36 holes before darkness, making his record even more difficult for someone else to beat.

Geno said Tina was “a trooper,” and was out there for about 20 hours during the week, riding around in the cart with him a little bit.

It was Thursday — he thought — when he had the cortisone shot.

“That helped me for about 24 hours, and then it started killing me again,” Bonnalie said.

He said he never thought about quitting. He said Thursday was probably when he felt the worst — he shot his second-highest round (83) of the week on his first round of the day, and only — only! — had one birdie.

“I thought to myself, ‘It’s not going to get any better. I’m absolutely miserable,’” he said.

“But it’s amazing what a little adrenaline will do,” he added. “Then a couple more people showed up for second round just to watch, and I think I shot 72 and made six birdies, and then I was good the rest of the day.”

He averaged about 53 minutes per round — the time it takes most of us to play about four holes. His fastest round was 41 minutes.

By contrast, one week after his marathon of golf, Bonnalie played in a two-man best ball in Orofino — a round which took six hours.

He said he thought he was 31 under par for the week.

MOST OF the other golfers on the course knew what was going on during his quest, and were courteous about letting Bonnalie play through.

But one group from out of town apparently hadn’t gotten the word from the pro shop. They were only some 20 yards off the first tee and gave a quizzical look when Geno and his entourage pulled up and asked to play through.

He caught up to the group again on the fourth hole, and finally one of the guys asked, “What’s going on?”

Someone in his group went over and explained what was going on.

Another time, while Geno was finishing up on the 18th hole, a volunteer had gone to the first tee to tee up some balls for the next drive. A couple of youngsters showed up at the first tee to play, and unknowingly started whacking the teed-up balls down the fairway.

“They were just going out to play and apparently they thought it was free golf ball day at the country club,” Bonnalie said. “We had to go down the fairway and pick up the golf balls and bring them back to the tee and tee ’em up again.”

Bonnalie is in the process of compiling all of the “evidence” to send off to Guinness — statements from those who witnessed the event, any media coverage, etc.

To date, Bonnalie has raised some $16,000 for cystinosis.

Bonnalie said he was most proud of “the fact that I was able to raise the money I was able to raise,” he said. “I hope it helps eventually find a cure, because it would be pretty neat.”

That would make all the blisters and the aching knee all the more worth it.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected].