Coleman gets well in time

Jim Bob Coleman had no reason to feel good about his chances in Thursday’s opening round of the 45th annual Lilac Invitational golf tournament.

Actually, the former Priest River resident, who now lives in Billings, Mont., had no reason to feel good – period.

He had just spent a couple of days earlier in the week water skiing at his parents’ home on Lake Pend Orielle, and he woke up on Wednesday too tired and too sore to even play the scheduled practice round that is included with the tournament’s entry fee.

He was still moving a little gingerly when he got to the practice range Thursday morning. But after taking a few swings, beating a few balls and working through his soreness, Coleman went out and tamed The Fairways at West Terrace golf course with a 7-under-par 65 that gave him a share of the opening-round lead in the region’s only 72-hole tournament.

“When I got to the range, I was too sore to take a full backswing,” explained Coleman, who shot an opening-round 63 in last year’s Lilac but finished in a tie for second behind Mark Worthington. “But I was hitting the ball pretty good, so I went with my short swing.”

And that short-swing approach seemed to serve Coleman well as he hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation and matched the opening-round 65s turned in by Chris Ming and Conner Robbins.

Former Coeur d’Alene resident John Cook was another stroke at 66, and Rob Rushton and T.J. Duncan each posted first-round 67s to keep themselves in contention heading into today’s second round.

Coleman, who has been playing mini-tour events throughout the western United States, didn’t drive the ball particularly straight. But he recovered from every errant tee shot, except the one he hit on the 383-yard ninth hole that produced his only bogey of the day.

“I hit 4-wood off the tee, and it ended up dead behind a skinny little tree in the right rough,” Coleman said, recounting his hiccup on No. 9. “So much for playing it smart, I guess.”

But he recovered nicely by chipping out sideways, knocking his third shot on the green and two-putting for a bogey-5 that left him 3-under par at the turn. And after making four more birdies on the back nine, including a great two on the difficult par-3 13th, he found himself looking back at everyone in the 115-player field – except Ming and Robbins.

Ming, playing out of the Tacoma Golf & Country Club, played the four par-5s five under par and shot a back-nine 31 to earn his share of the lead. Robbins used an eagle-2 on the 327-yard, par-4 11th to overcome a opening-hole bogey and fashion his 65.

“I really played the par-5s well,” said Ming, a regular on the Gateway Tour in Scottsdale, Ariz., who eagled the 537-yard third hole and then birdied 5, 12 and 14.

But he made a 3-putt bogey on No. 2 and then “dead-shanked” his tee shot on the par-3 seventh to give a couple of strokes back. And he made a 3-putt par on the 327-yard 11th after driving the green.

“I can laugh about it now,” he said of his misfortune at No. 11, “but it wasn’t that funny when it happened. I hit my drive about 40 feet above the hole, lagged to within a foot-and-a-half and then missed it.

“I hadn’t done that in a couple of years.”

Cook, a graduate of Coeur ‘d Alene High School who grew up playing at Avondale Golf Club, made eight birdies – one by draining a 25-foot putt on the 413-yard, par-4 18th – but also made a couple of costly bogies. One of those came on the par-3 13th, where he knocked his tee shot in the water that protects three sides of the peninsula green, took a drop and got up and down for a world-class 4.

“I played OK, but I left a few strokes out there,” said Cook, who turned pro in 1996 and is currently a mini-tour regular. “It feels like you can birdie every hole on this course.”

No one did, however, and several pre-tournament favorites – including amateur Peter Sisich, struggled on a sunny day made difficult by swirling winds.

Sisich, a Cheney resident who works at The Fairways, four-putted from 20 feet and made a bogey on the par-5 14th but still managed a opening-round 70, the lowest of any amateur in the field.

Former champion Storm Gleim missed a number of makeable putts and finished the day tied for seventh at 68. And former Central Valley High School and University of Washington standout Michelle Grafos, who is competing in the Senior Men’s Division, carded an opening-round 77.

The tournament, which is open to the public free of charge, continues today with the first tee times set for 8 a.m.