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Complete Forecast for  Sep 05 2008

TOP JOBS

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

The 38th Texas State Open, which begins today at The Cascades Golf Club, promises to be fast and furious.

And with so many young guns in the field who can drive the ball a mile, the deciding factor figures to be the firm greens that continue to draw rave reviews.

Players missing the cut may be able to blame too many three-putts.

Cascades head professional Kenny Huff said the speed of the greens rival those of the PGA Tour.

“If you miss the green and are chipping, you’ve got to pay attention,” Huff said. “The ball can roll by five or six feet pretty easy.

“The greens are so healthy this year where we’re not afraid to take them down and make them (fast) for the rest of the week.”

The 72-hole stroke play event will consist of 156 players — 129 professionals and 27 amateurs. The field will play 36 holes before being cut to the low 55 scores and ties after Friday’s round.

The final round is Sunday (live on KETK NBC 56).

Defending champion Matt Loving, who plays on the Gateway Tour’s Dallas-Fort Worth series, begins his quest for back-to-back titles today at 9 a.m. off the No. 1 tee.

Loving, from San Antonio, drew a strong pairing the first two days with Martin Piller of Dallas and Carrollton’s Andrew Dresser.

Piller, who won low amateur honors the last two years, turned pro recently after graduating from Texas A&M.

Dresser has been on a roll. He finished third at last year’s Texas State Open, made the cut in this year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, and had two runner-up finishes on the Adams Golf Pro Tour series in April.

Other contenders to Loving’s throne include Martin Flores of Mansfield (second in 2006), 1992 champion Clark Dennis (fourth last year) of Fort Worth, PGA club professional Tim Thelen, Jaxon Brigman and Adam Meyer.

Meyer is coming off a victory on the Gateway Tour last week and he also had three other top 10 finishes this season.

“Our goal is to have the most outstanding field that we can get each year, and this year is ranking up against any that we’ve seen in the last decade,” said Darrell Crall, executive director of the Northern Texas PGA, which conducts the State Open.

This week, three players dropped out of the State Open after qualifying for events on either the Nationwide Tour or Champions Tour.

“When a former champion or a standout gets an opportunity to play at the next level … that’s good for the tournament,” Crall said. “It’s good to know that this is a springboard for other success.”

The Cascades golf course will play approximately 6,900 yards and to a par of 70 (No. 10 is a par-4 for the tournament).

The field may notice a slight difference in the fairways this year, which includes an intermediate cut, Huff said, similar to a U.S. Open.

“We’ll have the fairways run faster and have an intermediate cut that is eight feet on either side of the fairway, then rough,” Huff said.

Another change is the rough, which may not be as penalizing this year with a drier summer.

“It’s not quite as thick,” Huff said. “It looks about the same but it doesn’t play quite as difficult. Last year with all the rain it just got thicker, the ball went to the bottom and it was almost impossible to get out.

“This year it will probably be a little bit higher but it won’t play quite as difficult.”

Added Steve Braley, president of The Cascades: “I think the golf course is the best it’s been in the three years of the event that we’ve had here. It’s the first year that we haven’t had major construction going on the golf course.”

Chip Shots:

East Texans in the field are Corsicana’s Chad Williams, Tyler’s Bryan Baker, Jacksonville’s Chad Bellar, Tyler’s Chase Wood; Longview’s Sean Hanson and Patrick Palmer; Tyler’s B.J. Waters, Longview’s Brent Akins, Flint’s Chris Edmonson, Tyler’s Ryan Sirman, Frankston’s John Sikes, Troup’s Rick Maxey, Overton’s Blaine Weiterman; Tony Varvel of Nacogdoches; Reggie Howell and Cody Massa of Tyler, and Greg Hamilton of Rusk. … Daily grounds tickets are available at The Cascades each day at the front entrance ticket booth for $10 (adults) and $5 (18 and under). Daily grounds tickets are good through Sunday. … Presenting sponsors of the event are Ashworth, KETK NBC 56, Park Cities Bank, Residence Inn by Marriott, Tyler Coca-Cola, and UST.