Grove defends PNW PGA title in playoff
Courtesy photo Russell Grove won the Pacific Northwest PGA Professional Championship on Thursday.
RICHLAND, Wash. — Playing in the second-to-last group, Russell Grove thought a birdie on the last hole might be good enough to win the Pacific Northwest PGA Professional Championship at Meadow Springs Country Club on Thursday.
A par, he figured, would likely put him in a playoff.
So imagine his mood after he pushed his drive on 18 out of bounds, and settled for double bogey 6.
“I thought I had lost it; I was devastated,” said Grove, the North Idaho College men’s and women’s golf coach.
But those in the final group apparently faltered down the stretch as well, and Grove wound up in a playoff with Tim Feenstra from Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle.
Playing 18 again, Feenstra bogeyed the first playoff hole, and Grove sank a 3-foot par put to win his third Pacific Northwest PGA major.
“Honestly, I didn’t have it the last two days,” said Grove, who shot 67-72-71—210, 6 under par. “I had to grind, and get it up and down; I really had to work for this one.”
Grove, who was tied for second after the second round, successfully defended his title, having won last year’s event at Circling Raven.
Feenstra shot 69-70-71—210.
Shane Prante of The Home Course in DuPont, Wash., who led by one stroke after 36 holes, shot 76 on Thursday and tied for 10th at 2-under 214.
Returning to the 18th tee for the playoff, “I just stepped up and ripped it,” Grove said. “I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.”
Grove hit his approach shot just through the green, then chipped close and made the putt for the win and the first-place check for $9,000.
“Once I got redemption (by making it into a playoff), I wasn’t going to let that opportunity slide,” he said.
The top seven finishers qualified for the 2019 PGA Professional Championship at Belfair on Bluffton, S.C., April 28-May 1, 2019. The top 20 finishers at that event qualify for the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., May 13-19, 2019.
Grove has played in the PGA Professional Championship the past two years when it was held in the Northwest, narrowly failing to qualify for the PGA.
Billy Bomar of Prairie Falls tied for 30th, shooting 77-71-73—221, 5 over par.