For the second straight time, Spokane native Alex Prugh, who has played full-time on the PGA Tour for four years, will play in The Showcase, a nine-hole exhibition event scheduled for Monday at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course.

Prugh will be part of four twosomes, helping raise money for the Community Cancer Fund, which according to their website helps fight cancer in the Inland Northwest by funding local cancer prevention. Last year it raised more than $551,000.

Last year the graduate of Ferris High of Spokane and University of Washington, who will turn 31 on Sept. 1, teamed up with Gary Lindeblad, a golf pro out of Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane, to win the exhibition.

This year, the hometown professional whose debut was at the U.S. Open in June 2007 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., will give it another shot. The retired sports celebrities listed on the website on The Showcase are former Seattle Supersonics star forward Detlef Schrempf, former Edmonton Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr, former St. Louis Cardinals quarterback Neil Lomax and former NFL kicker Ryan Longwell, who played for the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. Prugh will not know who he will play with until Sunday night at a dinner.

PRUGH ENJOYS the idea of raising money for a worthy cause. He will be joined by fellow PGA golfers Andres Gonzales and Jason Gore. Prugh, 127th on the FedEx Cup rankings, has earned $610,566 this year and currently lives in Las Vegas.

"I think it's a great event," Prugh said in a telephone interview earlier this week from the east coast, where's he's playing in the PGA Tour Quicken Loans National in Gainesville, Va. "It's a great cause and it's great to be (near) my hometown in the Inland Northwest so it's fun to see people come out and support a great cause for the cancer fund and it's great that we can tie a little golf into that to help raise funds and create awareness and I'm happy to be a part of that."

FOR 34 years, Prugh's father, Steve, was the head golf professional at Manito Golf Course in Spokane until he retired this past spring. He also has an older brother, Corey, a golf pro at Manito and his sister, Hillary, played at Montana State. The family also owns a ski cabin at Schweitzer Mountain. His parents might come out on Monday, as Steve carried his bag last year.

"I've only been home once," Alex Prugh said. "My brother and I both played at the University of Washington. We played each other all the time, I've had a lifetime of competition. My father got me into the game, I've had a golf club in my hands since I was 5 years old."

And of course, Alex, Corey and dad compete against each other when they can.

"We last played on June 19," Prugh said. "It was all three of us and our standard bet is who has to buy the first round of beers and we pushed this last time."

THE BEST finish this year for Prugh came on Feb. 8, at the Farmers Insurance Open on Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., 15 miles north of San Diego. Prugh finished tied for fifth with an 8-under par 280.

So far, his lowest score came the week after the Farmers Insurance Open - a 15-under par 272 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he finished tied for 10th.

"I was one shot off the lead, it was a four-way playoff," Prugh said of his performance at the Farmers Insurance Open. "So it was a fun event and unfortunately I missed about a 10- to 15-footer on the last hole to get a part of that playoff but it was still fun and you always want to win."

Prugh's most recent performance was at the RBC Canadian Open outside Toronto on July 26. While he was ninth at one point, Prugh shot a 76 on the last day and dropped to a tie for 48th.

Prugh's ultimate goal is to play in The Players' Championship in Atlanta on Sept. 24-27

"One or two good weeks can take care of that," Prugh said. "I always have a KISS method - keep it simple, stupid. Get out of your own way, don't think about where you are on the leaderboard, get every shot down."

PRUGH AND his wife, Katie, have a nine-month-old son named Eric. And yes, the couple plans on at least introducing him to the game of golf, but no pressure on the young guy.

"Obviously, just from what I do he will probably be playing golf at some point," Prugh said. "There's no pressure from us as far as playing competitive golf. But if he wants to, then we'll fully support it."

For now, Alex will take this professional golfing career as far as he can go, raising plenty of money for cancer research, before potentially handing it off to the next generation.

For more information, log on to: http://theshowcasegolf.com.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com or via Twitter @bourq25