Planning, working, and playing in this tournament, especially the first year, will always hold a special place in my heart. Some of my best friends in the world are people that I met and worked along side while building this tournament into what it is today. Hell, I met The Shot Gal while planning this tournament. VERY late on that first Saturday night she called home and told her mom she would be out at the course filling the Pepsi coolers for Sundays round. I don’t think her mom ever believed that story. But it seemed very logical at the time.
A little history…………
In February of 1999 I was down in Florida playing some of the shittiest golf known to man. I was with my Dad and some of his buddies and if anyone broke 90 it was because they quit counting. I got a call from Rob Koontz who was the pro at Country Oaks at the time. He had a vision of resurrecting the old
Washington Pro-Am of the past. He said that his memories were of a weekend long celebration of both golf and whatever else was worth celebrating. People liked watching regional professionals come into town and play the course that they teed it up on every weekend. He wanted to know my thoughts. I knew that he was the man to do it as his organization skills went unmatched and he had the desire and the know-how to put on a quality show. And thus it was born…..
Rob Koontz: "I think the meetings that we had planning the thing were something I’ll never forget. A lot of great ideas came out of those sessions. We had a great group of people come together to put on the show."
While professionals were absent for a few years until being resurrected while Chad Crane was the pro at “the Oaks;” that first year it was very important to show the community that we were trying to make this into a big deal. If I remember right, the professional flight was really weak, especially compared to the last few years. But getting even a few to put this unknown tournament at a very new course on their calendars was a big accomplishment for Rob.
Rob Koontz: "Seeing the crowds that showed up to play and watch the competitors was really special. The response that first year really made all of the hard work worth while. Being able to name the junior tournament after longtime pro Gene Gilliate was very important to me."
About three weeks prior to the event I sat down with Rob to discuss an idea. Every year on the first weekend in June, the Lawrence County Country Club has their annual tournament. On the Friday night prior to the tourney they had a 10 man shootout. It drew a good crowd and I knew the fun and party atmosphere that was created. I really felt that we could use this to gain the communities interest in the tournament. Rob wasn’t sold, but I was adamant, this will get the buzz going. So we came up with an idea to have 5 automatic entries. The Tuxedo Bar, the Montgomery Ruritan, the Knights of Columbus, the Country Oaks Golf Shop, and the club pro would all have an auto entry. That way several large groups would have “their guy” in the shootout. The other 5 spots would be decided by a qualifier. Worked like a charm, that first year we had a huge crowd and people saw how fun it was to watch people they know perform under the eyes of a few hundred spectators.
I can’t sit here and quote a whole lot of stats about the actual tournament play. I can tell you that I saw Rick Leonard from Vincennes, IN shank a ball off the top of the cart barn, bounce off of the concrete, somehow skip over a bunker and land on the 18th green for a birdie putt. I saw the late Ted Killion completely blow the C flight win while refusing to put away the driver and taking a 14 on his 36th hole. Even more fun than watching “The Bear” continue to dunk balls in the water was watching his buddy Rudy racing over to tell him that the tournaments only woman beat him on that hole. Speaking of, that first year had a very interesting entry in the form of Pat Burcham (I think that was her name) from Loogootee. If you watched SNL back in the day you’ll know that the name Pat was a perfect choice for her. I think she may have been just testing us to see if we would let her play; the word “Men’s” tournament was not on the entry. I don’t think anyone cared that she was a woman; the problem was that I’m not sure she was a golfer. She shot in the neighborhood of 120 each day and hit a clicker to count her score with every shot. That was a real treat for her playing partners.
There were a lot more parties back then. Friday night sponsors party, Saturday night players party are something of legend. You have never really experienced a tournament until you drink until 4 and are on the first tee as the starter for the 6:55 tee time. After puking all over my white shirt that I planned to wear on Sunday I was telling Beaky about it. He just laughed and then told me he had shit his pants on the way to the course. Good stuff.
I never did get my wish to paint the silo that is on the course to look like a giant Pepsi 2-liter for the tournament. Oh, well, maybe they will come back as a sponsor and I can do that someday. There were a few years there, during the reign of terror that one asshole pro had on the course, that I boycotted the tournament while watching him almost ruin it. That sucked. When they finally fired the dickhead 2 weeks before the 03 tournament, three of us raised the money and threw together one hell of an event at the last minute.
This tournament is in good hands now. Trey Miller and his staff do a wonderful job and I wish them nothing but success this year. I know that they have a passion for it, and I hope that maybe hearing the old stories and reading this brief history will keep the spirit of that first year alive. I have a romantic view of the tournament that not many do. But for those few guys that were around at the very beginning, this weekend is about more than just golf.
Yeah, I know it’s only a tournament, but sometimes that’s all it takes.
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