Washington Open will showcase a new look for this year’s event

The Washington Open Invitational takes on a new look in 2010.

The enhanced Sponsor Pro-Am titled The Korey at the Washington Open Invitational will debut May 14-15 at Glendale Country Club in Bellevue, Washington. This marks the 11th time the Pacific Northwest Section of the PGA will hold this championship at Glendale.

Located in Carnation, Camp Korey will be the beneficiary of the championship and serves children with serious and life-threatening illnesses at no cost to them, offering summer camps, family weekends, therapeutic recreation, and hospital outreach to families in the Northwest and beyond. Camp Korey is a provisional member in the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, founded by Paul Newman in 1988. Through the participation of Pro-Am sponsorships and teams, the tournament will raise over $300,000 for camper programs and family services.

The Korey kicks off Friday night at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue with dinner and comedy by Norm Crosby, followed by an evening of hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and entertainment by Comedy Central regular John Pinette on Saturday night. Players will enjoy a modified shamble format on Saturday with shotgun starts at 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

The championship itself will consist of the individual professional championship as well as a new team format of one professional and one amateur. The combined format is similar to the one used by the PGA Tour at Pebble Beach each year.

Past champions expected to compete include defending champion Brian Thornton of Meridian Valley, four-time champion Todd Erwin of Tacoma Firs and three-time champion Jeff Coston of Semiahmoo and Don Bies of Seattle. Tournament record holder Chuck Milne of Vanco Driving Range will compete as well. Total purse for the championship is expected to exceed $150,000 with the champion receiving $15,000.

The success of The Korey is due to tremendous community support from key sponsors Advanced H20, Niagara Bottling LLC, Sturm Foods, Encon, Georgia Pacific, Peco, Anderson Daymon, Novembal Precision Labels, Sterling Bank, and Sun Products.

For tournament information contact Jeff Ellison of the Pacific Northwest PGA at 360-956-9868, jellison@pgahq.com or Melissa Montero of Montero Productions at 425-454-7055 ormelissa@monteroproductions.net. Visit www.campkorey.org to learn more about Camp Korey at Carnation Farm, or call 425-844-3101.

This will be the first championship of the season for the Pacific Northwest club professionals. Other championships put on by the PGA Northwest Section include the Oregon Open, Rosauers, Northwest Open and PGA Section Championship.