PGA teaching professional Rob Clark, of Wenatchee Golf and Country Club, won the Northwest Open Invitational in an exciting two-hole playoff Wednesday at Meadow Springs Country Club in Richland.

Clark and Pat Howard, of Overlake G&CC, tied at 10-under-par 206. Clark, a former Asian Tour player, won the playoff with a par on the 10th hole.

"I think they say it's the oldest tournament in (the PGA) section," Clark told the Tri-City Herald. "It's great having my name on the trophy. There are a lot of big names on it."

Defending champion Jeff Coston (Semiahmoo), Ryan Malby (Village Greens) and Jason Aichele (Meadow Springs) finished tied for third, and one stroke out of the playoff.

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This week: Nationwide Tour's Oregon Classic, Thursday through Sunday, Shadow Hills Country Club, Junction City, Ore.

First-round score: 3-under-par 69.

Position: Putnam is tied for 10th, four strokes behind leader Ryan Hietala (65).

Recap: Someone else gets to be the early pace setter, and for Putnam, that might not be a bad thing. He's still getting off to good starts – it was the 12th time in his past 13 tournaments he's posted a first round of par or better – and Thursday was no exception. He birdied all the par-5s by getting up and down from around the green (once out of a bunker), sinking a 7-foot putt on the 18th hole for his 69. "They weren't all easy birdies," Putnam said. And for a tight course – it's a par-72 at 7,007 yards – the Tacoma native went at it aggressively. "It's a really tight course, so you have to position your tee shots. You can still hit driver on a lot of holes, and I hit driver more (Thursday) than I did last week," he said.

Tee time Friday: 1 p.m. PDT off the 10th tee.