This week the Champions Tour moves a little further northwest to the Seattle area for the Boeing Classic at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, a Jack Nicklaus golf course. It's a great place to be, given the heat and the storms that have been happening around the country. The weather was great last week in Bend, Oregon, much cooler, and Seattle traditionally has great weather in August.
We are on a three-week swing up and down the West Coast starting last week at the JELD-WEN Tradition followed by the Boeing Championship this week, and then finally the Wal-Mart Championship First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.
The last few weeks on Tour have been good for me with a win and a couple of top tens. In addition we have been working very diligently on the TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club trying to finish grassing and the project by mid-September. I've spent a ton of time going back and forth, fortunately I have been able to balance things pretty well and the project seems to be going well. We dodged some of the rain from the hurricanes that have been coming up the Gulf and I sank a putt or two as well.
I was very proud to win again at the 3M Championship in Minneapolis. As you can imagine, it was a difficult week for the people in that area because of the bridge tragedy. The $1.3 million the Tournament raised for the local hospital was a great reason to play the event, and I was very pleased that the Tour could be there in such a positive role.
If you remember, I got off to a good first round with a terrific putting day, shooting 7 under. There was some challenging weather on Saturday, however I was able to take the lead into the final round on Sunday. Playing the final round with Tom Watson and Jim Thorpe was a memorable. I knew there would be a challenge coming from somewhere, and it turned out to be the number one player and last year's player of the year Jay Haas who shot 63. However, I still had a few holes on the front side to do something about it, and will always remember shooting 31 on the back 9, birdieing the last three holes to win. Using that momentum, I came home for a week and worked on the TPC and then headed out to Bend, Oergon to play in last week's JELD-WEN Tradition, our fourth Major. Modeled after the Masters, this a select field event started in the Scottsdale area and then when JELD-WEN got involved the event was moved to Oregon, their home base. We played a few years in Portland and now at a new venue, the Crosswaters Club in central Oregon.
I think the event was well received by the players. The crowds were nice and the golf course was very challenging. I was able to play my way into position with essentially even par on the first day and a 66 on the second round, followed by another 4 under par on the third round, which gave me a chance on Sunday. I was paired with David Edwards who had been the leader on the first couple of rounds and Mark McNulty. Mark played a magnificent round, making three terrific putts early and putting himself into position that we just couldn't catch him in the back 9. Even though he double bogied the final hole, he shot 68, winning very easily.
I actually double bogeyed the 17th hole after leaving my shot in the bunker, but played very well and finished third under very trying conditions.
My goal over the last several months has been to balance my playing time with working with the team at Golf Resources. Steve Wolfard, Josh Peters, Sam Swanson, Bill Kirkendall and our entire team has been working hard to keep the TPC project moving forward and at the same time trying to help me balance my playing time on Tour. Fortunately it looks like both things have come together very well. We're excited about the completion of the TPC project in mid-September and I have a number of weeks to go ahead and try to finish what has been a very good year on the Champions Tour.
