Yrene back to PGA Championship

SCOTTSDALE - Looking for Don Yrene? Try the pool. He just might be hanging out there with his three children, Maia, 8; Adam, 5; and Jake, 2.

A month from now, though, the 41-year-old Scottsdale resident will be trying to make a different kind of splash.

For the third straight year, Yrene will be competing at the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich., the final "major" of the PGA Tour season.

The director of golf for The Golf Club Scottsdale qualified by finishing in the top 20 at the recent PGA Professional National Championship in Greensboro, Ga. His four-day total of 284 - including a third-round 66 - propelled him to a 10th-place finish among 312 club professionals.

Yrene credits his putter.

"The putter was probably the best club in my bag this week," he said. "I putted really, really well, and very consistently - especially when I shot that 66; it felt like everything was going in the hole."

Yrene carded three straight birdies on the front nine and four more in a row on the back nine - a remarkable stretch, especially when considering he was playing through a steady rain on the front side.

"That's tough because you have to take out the umbrella, and you've got your rain suit and you've got to try to keep everything dry . . . but somehow that turned out to be my best round of the tournament," he said.

Yrene missed the cut at last year's PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. In 2007, at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill., he finished tied for 68th.

That still was good enough for low club pro honors, however - and a chance to stand next to Tiger Woods during the televised awards ceremony.

Yrene said his tough mental approach to the game serves him well.

"My advantage is probably just my mental ability," he said. "Just to hang in there and keep grinding it out. Whether I am playing good or bad, I don't get too excited either way. I'm pretty steady as far as my mental approach to the game."

Yrene has played in several PGA and Nationwide tour events over the past six years, and credits those around him for his ability to compete.

"The stereotype that I think a lot of people have of golf pros is that all they do is play golf all day," he said. "It's actually the direct opposite."

"When you're a golf pro, you're managing the facility, supervising, buying merchandise, budgeting, planning and marketing. So playing is very much a non-priority, and that's unfortunate. So I'm lucky that my club, members and owners support me in playing in tournaments."

In the meantime, August can't come soon enough.

"It's very exciting to be able to play in another PGA Championship, my third major, and just to have another chance at seeing what I can do at that level," Yrene said. "And, hopefully, I can put it together and play well."

Don Yrene file

Yrene earned a spot in the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.

Age: 41.

Position: Director of Golf, The Golf Club Scottsdale.

How he earned his spot: Finished 10th at the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship, shooting rounds of 69-76-66-73.

Previous PGA Championship Appearances: 2006, Medinah, T-68th, 71-72-77-80 - 300, low club pro honors. 2007, Southern Hills, 80-78 - 158, missed cut.