The 40th PGA Professional National Championship returns to Sunriver, Ore., June 21-24, this time bringing a 312-member field representing 43 states who will be competing on both Crosswater Golf Club and The Meadows Golf Course.

In 2001, the Championship concluded on a brittle Sunday afternoon. But, Wayne DeFrancesco of Baltimore, Md., seemed unfazed. He also found a putter that warmed up in time for a memorable 72-hole performance at Crosswater Golf Club.

DeFrancesco, a man who had endured three back operations by 1988, and who was told by doctors to give up competitive golf, had other ideas.

Playing on a course that was the site for filming of John Wayne's "True Grit" in 1969, DeFrancesco began the 34th PGA Professional National Championship with a 7-under-par, course-record 65. He then added middle rounds of 69 and 72, before battling cold, drizzle and a steady wind at Crosswater Club to finish with a 72. He tapped in for par on the 72nd hole for a winning total of 10-under-par 278, three strokes better than 2000 Champion Tim Thelen (who later added a second title in 2003) of Richmond, Texas; Mark Brown of Glen Cove, N.Y.; John Aber of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Don Berry of Maple Grove, Minn.

DeFrancesco had back operations in 1983, 1986 and 1988, with two vertebrae in his spine fused in the second operation. But the vertebrae had grown too well and in his third operation, surgeons cut away more bone to take pressure off the nerves in his back. He spent his recovery earning a real estate license, got married and didn't play golf for two years. He began teaching golf at Woodholme in 1991, and came back to the game slowly, and was the low PGA club professional finisher in the 1995 PGA Championship. In the six months leading up to the 2001 National Championship, DeFrancesco worked with a physical therapist, Greg Rose, of Rockville, Md. DeFrancesco lost 15 pounds and was renewed.

DeFrancesco became the only player in the history of this national championship to hold the lead alone all four days.