Players with Maine roots will be competing this week in the 46th PGA Professional Championship at the Sunriver Resort in Bend, Ore. This event basically is the national tournament for club pros.

John Hickson of Topsham, who is the PGA manager at Dick’s in Topsham, is the most experienced Mainer in the field of more than 300 players.

This will be Hickson’s 10th appearance in the tournament. He has accumulated $23,140 in prize money. A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono, Hickson won the Maine Open in 2008 and also has a New England PGA Stroke Play title to his credit.

Jeff Seavey, assistant pro at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, has been in four PGA Nationals and has won $3,735. A graduate of the University of Maine in Farmington, Seavey was third in the 2008 Maine Open.

Jeff Martin, head pro at the Norton (Mass.) Country Club, is competing in the tournament. He is former assistant pro at Saco-Biddeford and grew up playing golf at Riverside. Martin played on the 2006 Nationwide Tour and was New England Section PGA Player of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010.

Also in the field will be Mike Dugas, who is owner and head pro at J.W. Parks in Pittsfield. Dugas was 2002 Maine PGA Player of the Year.

The purse is $550,000, with the champion getting a berth in the 2013 PGA and six PGA Tour events.

Two Sunriver’s courses will be used —  Crosswater (7,570 yards) and Meadows (6,969 yards). Crosslands is rated one of America’s best courses and was a Champions Tour site 2007 to 2010. It was host to the PGA Professional in 2001 and 2007. The Meadows ran the 2007 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.

At 4,200 feet above sea level in the midst of rivers and pine trees, Maine golfers should feel right at home. The dryer air and high desert will mean that the ball will carry longer, and there will be no mosquitoes and zero humidity.

Busy days

The Maine State Golf Association has one of the busiest tournament schedules in the nation, especially since weather conditions require it to condense all these tournaments into a period of a little more than six months.

The MSGA Tournament season began April 19 and 20 at Nonesuch River with its first of approximately 30 Friday/Saturday events. It will conclude in South Berwick Nov. 1 and 2 at Outlook.

This week, however, is an example of what an ambitious MSGA can and does do for its membership. There is an MSGA Junior Tournament Monday at Sanford, followed by another, the Kit Bartlett Memorial, Tuesday at Belgrade Lakes and a third one Wednesday at The Woodlands. Also on Monday is a senior tour event at Sanford.

On Tuesday there is a Maine Amateur qualifier at Martindale, with another qualifier Thursday at Penobscot Valley. The Maine Amateur is scheduled for July 9 to 11 at Augusta Country Club in Manchester.

The regular Friday-Saturday MSGA event this week will be in Mexico at Oakdale. And if that isn’t enough, The Northeastland Hotel is sponsoring the MSGA’s County Tour next weekend — Friday at Aroostook Valley, Saturday at Mars Hill, and Sunday at Presque Isle.

“This is the nuts part of our schedule,” said Nancy Storey, MSGA executive director, who always is ready to promote golf. “The County Tour represents an opportunity for players from the southern part of the state to see what great courses there are in the Presque Isle area.”