Kelly Townsend: Starting up a charity golf tournament is no easy task these days, but the Mesa businessman is committed to growing the Lien Watch Open to benefit Alzheimer’s research.

According to Townsend, the four-man scramble, which has a 8 a.m. shotgun start on Saturday at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, could use some players and maybe another sponsor or two.

“At the moment we’ve got about 10 foursomes, and we’ve worked hard to get those,’’ said the CEO of Liens & Bonds Services, a loss-prevention agency whose goal is to protect the construction industry. “But this is a long-term commitment on our part, and we hope that eventually we’ll be able to raise some serious money to help combat Alzheimer’s disease.’’

Townsend’s goal has a very personal nature, as three generations of his family have been struck down by the disease, which devastates the brain’s nerve cells and impairs memory, thinking and behavior. According to the Alzheimer‘s Association, an estimated 4.5 million Americans have the disease.

“I was only 10 years old when I first came in contact with it, although I didn’t really understand what it was at the time,’’ Townsend said. “I would ride my bike home from school and stop at my grandmother’s, because she’d make me fried chicken, and one day she said to me out of the blue, ‘Who are you, and why are you in my house?’ ’’

In 1990 more sad news came when Townsend found out that his mother also had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Then two years ago, his sister called to tell him she also had been stricken with the disease.

“Everyone thinks it just happens to elderly people, but my sister was just 47 years old when she was diagnosed with it,’’ said Townsend, who cares for his sister at his home. “Here’s a very talented, intelligent woman who has her Masters and doctorate degrees, and it’s so sad because now she can’t even put a sentence together. . . . So we need to find a cure, and that’s why we’re hosting this golf tournament at Las Sendas with lots of great prizes to go with it.’’

Townsend certainly loves the game. He got into the sport at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, where a football injury led to the golf team. A graduate of Arizona State and Western State University in San Diego, he currently is a member at Chaparral Pines in Payson, plays “a lot of golf’’ at Las Sendas, and lives on the golf course at Augusta Ranch.

“I’d love to be able to play the game more, but I’ve got a very busy schedule that limits me to about one outing a week,’’ said Townsend, 46, who gave up his job as a lawyer to become a private investigator. “Once upon a time I was a scratch, but I’m probably an 8 (handicap) now. My dream is to get my game back some day, and perhaps play in the U.S. Senior Amateur.’’

In the mean time, he needs some players to join him Saturday for the Lien Watch Open. Foursomes are $500, and besides several driving and putting contests, there also is hole-in-one contests for a new Chevrolet Z71 and $10,000, as well as a silent auction and raffle. To register or be a sponsor, call (480) 505-2170 or visit www.lienwatch.com. The deadline is Friday noon.

NOTEWORTHY

Passing grade: Five players with East Valley ties have advanced from the first stage of PGA Tour qualifying school, which took place last week at La Quinta, Calif. Those moving to the second stage include Mesa’s Jesse Mueller, a former Arizona State player who finished third; Gateway standout John Douma of Scottsdale, who tied for sixth; Scottsdale’s Tom Stankowski, the recent Cingular Wireless Arizona Open winner, who tied for 10 th; former ASU player Jin Park of Tempe, who tied for 15 th; and Chandler’s Greg Bruckner, a former Nationwide Tour player who also tied for 15 th.

Devils to defend: The Arizona State women travel to Stanford this weekend, where they will defend the title they captured last year in the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate. The 54-hole tournament is Friday through Sunday at the Stanford Golf Course, and the field includes the majority of the Pac-10 schools, as well as Texas and Duke.

ASU men, too: The Arizona State men’s team will make its first appearance in the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational on Sunday through Monday at Windermere, Fla., a suburb of Orlando. Also in the field opposing the 10 th-ranked Sun Devils are such national powers as Wake Forest, Stanford, Duke, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma State.