Ryan Benzel qualifies for PGA championship
Published 8:37 pm Thursday, July 1, 2010
FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Despite a disappointing final round, Ryan Benzel of Bothell still finished tied for 11th at the PGA Professional National Championship on Wednesday to earn a spot in the upcoming PGA Championship.
The 31-year-old Benzel, a teaching pro at Marysville’s Battle Creek Golf Course, shot a 6-over-par 78 on Wednesday for a four-day total of 2-over 288 at the French Lick Resort. The top 20 finishers qualify for the PGA Championship, Aug. 12-15 at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.
First place went to defending champion Mike Small, the golf coach at the University of Illinois. He shot a 1-over 73 on Wednesday for an 8-under total of 278 and a three-shot margin over runner-up Sonny Skinner, a teaching pro at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, Ga.
Benzel, meanwhile, struggled through a Wednesday round that included two birdies, three bogeys, a double bogey and a grievous triple bogey.
“That golf course is very difficult,” Benzel said by telephone. “One bad swing and you could make triple.”
It happened on the 215-yard par-3 16th hole, where Benzel hit his tee shot long and left of the green. He had an unplayable lie and ended up with a 6.
“My round was OK for most of the day,” Benzel said. “I was able to keep it together and was only 2 over when I got to 16, so I was still very much in the golf tournament as far as finishing in the top five.
“It was really one (bad) swing,” he said. “I let everything good that I’d done (for the tournament) slip away a little bit at the end.”
Still, Benzel said he was not unhappy with his play at this event, which brings together PGA club pros from across the country.
“I hit plenty of good shots and some not-so-good shots,” he said. “But I putted very well all week. I saved myself very nicely a few times. So I’m pretty happy with it.”
Benzel will be making his fourth straight trip to the PGA Championship. He made his first appearance in 2007 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.; the second in 2008 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.; and the third last year at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
He made the cut at Southern Hills, but fell short the past two years.
Playing in one of golf’s major championships “never gets old, that’s for sure,” Benzel said. “So for kind of faltering down the stretch a little bit and still qualifying for the PGA Championship, that’s pretty good.”
As he looks ahead to August, “I have more of a comfort level with what the PGA is now,” he said. “That’s the nice thing. The hard thing will be learning the golf course and trying to play with the best players in the world.”
Benzel earned just over $10,000 this week, “and that’s a lot of lessons,” he said. “It could’ve been bigger, but I tried not to look and see what the money would’ve been.”
And after returning to the Seattle area today, “I’ll be back teaching Friday (at Battle Creek),” he said.
