The Bogeyman Dan

O’Neill

Theevent will fly under the radar, won’t get much publicity. And frankly, there’s not much in the way of traditional publicity to be had these days.

Fanfare or not, the Advocates Professional Golf Association comes back to town on Aug. 9-10, staging a 36-hole championship at Glen Echo Country Club. In the second year of a three-year agreement, the APGA competition coincides with the fourth edition of the PGA Tour Champions Ascension Charity Classic on Sept. 8-10 at Norwood Hills Country Club.

In case you don’t know about the APGA, it will run a schedule of 11 tournaments nationwide this year, offering some $800,000 in prize money. The season-ending Lexus Cup Bonus Pool provides an additional $35,000 carrot for APGA players.

In addition to a professional division, each APGA event features an amateur division for players with handicaps of 5 or less.

The mission here is not to establish another golf league, promote fame and fortune, or even grab some aforementioned publicity - not directly. The goal is to provide an opportunity for those things. To open the game up, to include and diversify. to make professional golf a viable landing strip for inner city youth.

This is not a new concept. The APGA, sponsored by Dougherty Business Solutions, has been at this now for 13 years. If you follow golf, you’ve heard of Tony Finau and Harold Varner III. Finau is among the top-20 ranked players in the world, Varner among the top 100. But before you heard of them, they were players of color dreaming about

They were wondering about how or where they might access that arena. They were just getting started, nurturing their love of the game, refining their skills, taking those first steps from promise to performance and the pursuit of a professional career. They were taking them on the APGA Tour.

The APGA doesn’t just run tournaments. The APGA Tour Player Development Program provides free clinics, mentors, equipment and complimentary entries fees to those who most need it. It talks the talk and walks the walk. Partnering with events like the PGA Tour Champions Ascension Charity Classic, with corporate partners like St. Louis-based World Wide Technology is important to both.

Admission for the APGA event at Glen Echo is free for a St. Louis community that appreciates a good golf tournament - and a good opportunity - when it sees them. Along with the competition, a youth clinic is scheduled for 4:30 p.m - 6 p.m. on Aug. 9, a program that includes participants from local youth organizations, interactions with APGA Tour players and dinner.

“Last year’s event showcased the extremely high level of play the APGA Tour offers, and we’re thrilled to welcome these talented golfers back to St. Louis,” said Nick Ragone, executive vice president and chief marketing & communications officer for Ascension. “Bringing greater diversity to the game while helping these players reach their dreams in professional golf is one of the most important aspects of this tournament.”

Grandiosity? Far-fetched? Well, consider that the Ascension Classic, which includes a $30,000 purse, is the last regular season event for the APGA. The winner gets an exemption into the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship on Nov. 2-5 at El Cardinal at Diamanté Cabo San Lucas.

Should that player catch lightning in a bottle and win the WWTC, he takes home a check for $1.5 million, and he receives a PGA Tour card for the next two years. It can happen, just like that!

Marcus Byrd has won five times on the APGA Tour schedule this year. As a result, he’s had four at-bats in PGA Tour events. He’s missed cuts in each, but if you keep knockin’ at the door ... you never know. As Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

The APGA also conducts collegiate rankings, whereby top five players receive numerous benefits and opportunities. Michigan State’s Troy Taylor was the No. 1 in the 2022-23 standings. Taylor earned a sponsor’s exemption into the 2023 Korn Ferry UNC Health Championship and automatically qualified for the 2024 season-opening APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines.

Publicity is hard to come by, and big galleries are reserved for big leagues. But this about soul, and the should of the APGA Tour is in the right place. The Ascension Charity Classic has been a treat for the golf community. Norwood has provided the theater for previous champions like Paidraig Harrington and David Toms - both major championship winners on the regular PGA Tour.

The event has brought personalities to town like Cardinals fan John Daly, embraced favorite sons like Jay Williamson and Jay Delsing and brings a healthy balance to our sports diet.

Dream chasers get the opportunities and means by which to chase. St. Louis golf fans get a chance to see young guns compete at a high level, and stroll the historic grounds of Glen Echo, site of the 1904 Olympic Golf Tournament.