June 28, 2010

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Cal State Monterey Bay men's golf coach #Jason Owen# made his PGA Professional National Championship debut yesterday in French Lick, Ind.  Owen carded a first round 1-under-par 69 at the Donald Ross Course that included two birdies and just one bogey.

The National Championship, featuring a nationwide field of 312 PGA Professionals, will utilize the par-70, 7,000-yard Donald Ross Course, which opened in 1917, and the par-72, 7,400-yard Pete Dye Course, which is scheduled for a grand opening in the spring of 2009. The Championship's final two rounds will be conducted on the Pete Dye Course.

"The bogey on No. 3 happened because I put it in the middle of the fairway, but then I hit my approach shot in that right bunker," Owen said. "It was a basic bunker shot, really easy up and down, and I just chunked it in the bunker, you know? I don't play for a living, so I do those things. I just hit it out from there and made my bogey."

"I'm satisfied with the score," Owen said. "I always tell my guys that you have to break it down to two things: 1. How did you hit the ball? 2. How did you score? Today I didn't hit it great, but I sure did score well.  Especially when you look at this golf course.  It's not the type of place that's going to yield too many low numbers. It's going to be a battle out there with the conditions the way they are. It's a great course, it really is."

While this is the first time Owen is teeing it up in an event of this magnitude, he has lofty goals.

"I have one goal and that's finishing inside the top 10," he said. "It gets me to Whistling Straits and it gets me that exemption into the second stage of Tour School. Not that I'll do it, but those were my aspirations when I got here -- top 10. We'll see."

This past spring, Owen coached the Otters to an 11th place finish in team's first NCAA National Championship appearance.

The second round of the tournament will be aired today at 12:30 p.m. on the Golf Channel (Channel 42 on campus).  Follow the action with live scoring at PGA.com.

*Information provided by PGA.com.