Over the Green

The second annual United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship is scheduled for Feb. 20 with each player using authentic or replica pre-1930 equipment provided by Dr. Jay Harris of Pinehurst, N.C. and balls by McIntyre Golf in San Diego, Calif.

The tournament is dedicated to preserving and honoring the history of golf in America and to the memory of John Shippen with the winner’s name engraved on the John Shippen Cup.

The Championship will be played over the Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club course site of the 1925 Florida Open that had a field of the best golfers of the time including Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen. The 1922 Tom Bendelow design will play to 6,400 yards, to the same as in 1925.

In 2011, the first U.S. Pro Hickory Championship was won by Leroux Ferreira of Kingwood, Tex. with a score of 79 beating Champions Tour veteran David Frost by two strokes. For his victory Ferreira earned $1,500, the same first place money as Leo Diegel for his 1925 win. The 2011 field of 26 included one female professional, Jennifer Cully of Apollo Beach, Fla.

John Shippen (1879-1968), the man who is honored by the John Shippen Cup, was a groundbreaking golf professional with an enduring love of the game. As the son of a black minister of the Presbyterian Church and a Shinnecock Indian mother he persevered the prejudice of the time and became a top player. He began as a caddy while his father was serving on the Shinnecock Reservation located on the eastern tip of Long Island. Young Shippen drew the attention of the club’s professional Willie Dunn, a fine player and one the many expatriate Scottish professionals who migrated to America, who taught him to play. Shippen played in five U.S. Opens and spent more than fifty years as a club professional.

The American Lakes Wounded Veterans Golf Course in Tacoma, Wash. will receive a donation from the proceeds from this years Championship. The United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship is the creation of Mike Stevens, teaching professional at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. and the 2010 National Hickory Open Champion.

On Memorial Day, before the beer, hotdogs and fireworks, the Golf Channel broadcast the first big time golf event played under the rules of PowerPlay Golf – a relatively new and potentially significant tournament format.

Unfortunately an unknown (at least to American viewers and for the sake of media attention) player, Caroline Hedwall won though her finish didn’t lack anything in the way of excitement…it was birdie-birdie-birdie. There were some interesting aspects to this 9-hole tournament contested on the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor in Wales other than the modified Stableford scoring.
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TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. – Battling wind and length yesterday Feb. 21, Leroux Ferreira from Kingwood, Texas outlasted the field over the challenging 6,400 yard Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club. Playing with clubs dating back to 1910 or earlier, Ferreira was the only golfer able to break 80. David Frost of the Champions Tour finished in second with 81 and Jon Benson from Wesley Chapel, Florida took third with 83.

The United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship is the brainchild of Mike Stevens, teaching pro at MacDill Air Force Base and the reigning National Hickory Open Champion. The field of 24 golfers from around the country competed with original hickory shafted golf clubs provided by Dr. Jay Harris of Pinehurst, North Carolina.

The competitors were playing for $5,000 purse and the John Shippen Cup which honors America’s first professional golfer. The championship is dedicated to preserving and honoring the history of early golf in America. The Temple Terrace golf course was chosen because it hosted the original Florida Open in 1925 and remains true to its 1922 Tom Bendelow design.

Results:
Leroux Ferreira 79 $1,500
David Frost 81 $1,000
Jon Benson 83 $700
Sean Frost 85 $500
Lee Chill 86 $400
Mike Stevens 87 $250
Tom Doozan 87 $250
Brian Schuman (A) 88
Joe Gutterman 90 $125
Kody Kirchoff 91 $75
Tom McCrary 91 $75
Greg Vogelsang 91 $75
Jim Cocchi 93 $50

The Sony Open in Hawaii, this weeks’ stop on the PGA Tour, has a lot of history going all the way back to 1971 when it began as the Hawaiian Open, an unabashed advertisement of Hawaii’s charms to winter bound mainlanders. From 1990 through 1998 with a new sponsor and name it was played as the United Airlines Hawaiian Open and 1999 Sony became title sponsor.

This is the season’s first full field event with players vying for a $5.5 million purse. The field which includes 2008 winner Zach Johnson, winners of all four 2009 majors and notables like Ernie Els (a 2 time Sony winner), Vijay Singh (1 win), Davis Love and Justin Rose plus the hottest member of the Tour’s young gun category, Ricky Fowler.

The tournament’s history of firsts includes 14 year old Lorens Chan, who last year became the youngest qualifier ever for a Tour event and in 2004 with Michelle Wie the youngest golfer to ever play in a Tour event. Wie played on a sponsor’s exemption.

This year look for PGA Tour bad boy John Daly to tee it up courtesy of the sponsor after playing in Asia and Europe in 2009. If you haven’t seen Daly since he came off his six month Tour suspension, he may be hard to recognize. After lap band surgery “Big John” is not so big, he’s lost 100 pounds.

The 2007 tournament saw local favorite 16-year old Tadd Fujikawa, a qualifier who became the youngest in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut with a 66 in round two. After a third round, also of 66, he finished T-20 nine shots behind winner Paul Goydos.

For fans with longer memories the 1983 Hawiian Open also had one of the best ever moments in televised golf. As Jack Renner sat in the scorer’s tent after completing his fourth round at 19 under par, Japanse star Isao Aoki was playing the 18th needing a birdie to tie Renner. Captured on by the TV camera was Renner’s face after Aoki holed his approach shot for an eagle and the win.

Coverage of the Sony Open is on the Golf Channel beginning a t 7pm Thursday through Sunday.

Team USA with World Golf Hall of Fame member Captain Kathy Whitworth won the fourth Handa Cup on Sunday Dec. 6 by building on an overnight 15-9 lead with 13 points in the final day singles.

The event was played the Slammer & Squire course at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. The U.S. has won all four Handa Cup meeting. The Handa Cup is sponsored by the International Sports Promotion Society owned by Dr. Haruihisa Handa.

The U.S.A. squad competed against a team comprised of players from the rest of the world captained by Catherine Panton Lewis of England. In addition to Whitworth six other members of the 12-player US team are World Golf Hall of Fame members: Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Sandra Haynie and Patty Sheehan. Jan Stephenson, born in Australia, is among the players on the World Team along with former standouts on the LPGA Tour: Dawn Coe-Jones, Gail Graham, Sally Little and Alison Nicholas.

The big winner for the U.S. was Christa Johnson who scored six points in going undefeated over the two days of play.

Handa Cup competition consists of 9-hole team matches Saturday morning and afternoon followed by 18-hole singles matches on Sunday. The Handa Cup is sanctioned by the Legends Tour, a tour for women seniors operated by the LPGA Tour.

The fourth playing of the Handa Cup begins tomorrow Dec. 5 on the Slammer and Squire Golf Course at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. Team U.S.A. is captained by World Golf Hall of Fame member Kathy Whitworth and the team comprised of players from the rest of the world by Catherine Panton Lewis of England.

Handa Cup competition consists of 9-hole team matches Saturday morning and afternoon followed by 18-hole singles matches on Sunday. A 9-hole team pro-am not part of the formal contest is schedule on Monday Dec. 7th.

In addition to Whitworth six other members of the 12-player US team are World Golf Hall of Fame members: Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Sandra Haynie and Patty Sheehan. Jan Stephenson, born in Australia, is among the players on the World Team along with former standouts on the LPGA Tour: Dawn Coe-Jones, Gail Graham, Sally Little and Alison Nicholas.

The U.S. has won the first three times the Cup was contested starting in 2006 including a lopsided victory last year with Patty Sheehan as captain by the score of 31-17. Lori West is assistant U.S. captain and with fan favorites Cindy Rarick and Rosie Jones on the team as well.

The Handa Cup is sanctioned by the Legends Tour, a tour for women seniors operated by the LPGA Tour.

The 2009 Handa Cup will be held Dec. 5th and 6th at World Golf Village – home to the World Golf Hall of Fame – in St. Augustine, Fla. The annual match-up, played on World Golf Village’s Slammer & Squire golf course, features international and U.S. Legends of the LPGA competing in a match play competition. The event is open to the public and single-day grounds passes are $10.

The fourth-annual Handa Cup is a fixture on The Legends Tour’s growing schedule and is sponsored by the International Sports Promotion Society (“ISPS”), an organization created by Dr. Haruhisa Handa, a Japanese businessman and philanthropist. It is a part of The Legends Tour’s “Handa Series,” which features other international events sponsored by Dr. Handa.

“For the fourth consecutive year, a group of legendary women golfers will offer exciting competition in the shadow of the World Golf Hall of Fame, where many of them are recognized with the most distinguished honor for their achievements within the sport,” said Jane Blalock, president of The Legends Tour. “The international nature of the event is the perfect complement to the Hall of Fame’s global focus and presents another wonderful golf event for residents and visitors to the First Coast to enjoy.”

Announcements will be made in the coming weeks regarding players on the U.S. and World Teams. Tickets for the 2009 Handa Cup may be purchased at the gate or on-line at www.thelegendstour.com and special two-for-one passes to the tournament are available for World Golf Hall of Fame guests.

Just when you thought things were tough in the golf business the PGA Tour announced two new deals expanding their marketing reach in resort golf, adding to the TPC brand that already includes 11 daily fee and 19 private facilities. Arguably the best known of all these is the TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship.

The Blue Monster at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami and the Stadium Course at PGA WEST in LaQuinta, Calif., have inked agreements to be part of the PGA Tour’s network of TPC branded courses. Effective Nov. 1 the names change to TPC Blue Monster at Doral and the TPC Stadium Course at PGA WEST.

David Pillsbury, President of PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties responsible for the TPC courses said, “We are extremely pleased to bring these two outstanding golf courses into the TPC family through new licensing agreements. This marks the beginning to a licensing strategy to bring select resort and destination facilities into the TPC fold.”

Pillsbury has indicated the strategy is to expand the number of TPC-licensed courses by adding high-end facilities.

The Blue Monster has been part of the PGA Tour rota since 1962 and presently hosts the World Golf Championships-CA Championship while the Stadium Course previously was a TPC licensee and the location for the finals of Qualifying School several times.

You knew it had to happen sometime, Tiger Woods going into the earnings stratsphere. Now a article on Forbes.com makes it official. Tiger has passed the billion (yes, that’s a B) in prize money, endorsements and other income. Of course he kind of backed into it with his loss to Phil Mickelson this past Sunday but he still took the $10.5 million from FedEx.

Two observations. First, he is just now entering his prime earning years as a pro…seems like forever but he has only been playing on the PGA Tour since 1996.

Secondly, the only other player who can be mentioned in the same breath from a performance standpoint, Jack Nicklaus, made just under $6 million of prize money in his entire career. This does include endorsement income or appearance fees, etc. but is a great expression of how times have changed.

NBC did it again, spent the first 11 minutes of their coverage by my watch with football scores, touting their programming and talking about the tournament. In other words making the assumption we aren’t interested in seeing actual golf shots.

Also unnoticed by Hicks and Miller evidentally in the focused coverage they provided of Tiger’s flat play today was that Lefty’s 65 was two better than the next low round (Furyk and Z. Johnson) and that the course scoring average was over par.

The Peacock Network seems increasingly to be enamoured by the sound of Johnny Miller’s voice and Dan Hicks rambles. Too bad because their camera work and production values are first rate.