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FEATURES

Volume 13, No. 5 Editor Production Manager Director of Sales Copy editor Contributing writers

Contributing photographers

October-December, 2006 Ken MacLeod James Royal Lara Denning Jenk Jones Jr. Vicki Tramel Mal Elliott Barry Lewis Jim Misunas Art Stricklin John Rohde Tim Landes Mel Root Mike Klemme Steve Barnett

South Central Publications 2723 S. Memorial Drive • Tulsa, OK 74129 918-280-0787 • Fax: 918-280-0797 Website: southcentralgolf.com • E-mail: ken@southcentralgolf.com South Central Golf is the official publication of the South Central Section of the PGA of America, which includes all of Oklahoma,Arkansas and southern Kansas. The magazine is endorsed by the Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas state golf associations. South Central Golf is published five times annually, including our annual course directory. Subscriptions are $18 and are available by calling 918-280-0787 or on the website. We also welcome your letters and comments via e-mail.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

DESTINATION BLANCHARD? ..........................8 Developers hope this small city will be the next Edmond in the golf market.

OSU SET TO DEFEND NCAA TITLE..................10 FAREWELL TO BYRON NELSON ....................12 CHASING THE CHAMPIONS TOUR Jim Woodward and Jim Kane take aim in OKC ....16 Rod Nuckolls hones game in Wichita.................17 TWO DATES WITH LPGA...............................25 Tulsa event moves to May, while Northwest Arkansas lands September date.

BOWMAN BUYS COBBLESTONE CREEK.........20 PREPARING FOR THE PGA............................21 ON THE ROAD.............................................22 San Antonio and the northern portion of the Audobon Golf Trail are quick, affordable golf trips.

JACOBSEN AND HARDY ..............................29 Kansan helps save career of golf’s funny man.

Columns 30 30 31 32 34

Superintendent’s Corner Rick Coe, OGA Jay Fox, ASGA Gene Mortensen, Rules Kim Richey, KGA

33 Barry Thompson, PGA

Departments 6 Around the Section 37 Schedules & Results

5

AROUND

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SECTION

Training center opens in north Tulsa

The new O’Brien Golf Training Center gives kids a chance to learn on true course conditions.

The O’Brien Golf Training Center opened at O’Brien Park in north Tulsa in early October.

The three-hole course, designed by Tripp Davis and built by Tulsa Country Parks, is designed to introduce the game and provide a training ground for Tulsa’s north side residents.

Albert Williams, a golf enthusiast with a marketing background, will run the facility.

Tulsa County has contacted schools in the area to invite them to use the facility for their middle school and beginning golfers.

O’Brien Park is already home to baseball fields, tennis courts, football fields and a swimming pool and golf will add to the opportunities for youth in the area. There will also be a first class driving range and a small pro shop.

Cost to play the three holes will be $3 per “round.” Each hole can be played from numerous tee boxes. The first two holes can be played as a par-3 or par-4, while the third hole can be played as a par-3, 4 or 5.

“There’s a lot of positive things going on in

that 100 acres and the golf just becomes a part of that,” said Richard Bales, Tulsa Country parks director.

“It turned out really well,” Davis said.

“Every hole gives the golfers different angles to choose from. We wanted to give the kids as much variety as possible yet keep the course highly maintainable, which is why there are no bunkers.

“They will be able to hit differnt shots and learn some of the subtleties of the game. It will be a good golf experience.”

The golf course was built with funds provided by the county-wide bond package known as Vision 2025.

2011 NCAA TO KARSTEN CREEK Karsten Creek, home to the Oklahoma State men’s and women’s golf programs, will host the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. The event is set to take place June 1-4 and will mark the second time the championship has been staged at the award-winning course.

Opened in 1994, the Tom Fazio layout has

Street of Dreams includes a stop on the green Richard Shepler, who builds custom putting greens for Southwest Greens of Oklahoma, will have his work featured in the Tulsa Street of Dreams this year from Oct. 14-29 on 110th S. Louisville in Tulsa.

Shepler built one of his custom greens in the common area for the new residential development called The Belmont, built by Wenrick Development. Most of the new estates in the area were built on land formerly owned by Bill Bartman, former founder and CEO of Commercial Financial Services.

The common area has tennis courts (built and formerly owned by Bartman), the putting green, horseshoe courts and a picnic area. To reach it, one must walk behind what is still Bartman’s house on tennis courts that are now part of the common use area.

The green has numerous holes and plenty of break and movewment. It can also hold pitch shots.

It’s been a good year for large projects for Shepler, who also recently finished a three-hole pitch and putt course at a development in Jenks and is working on Phase Two of a large project at the University of Oklahoma.

To examine his greens, stop by the Street of Dreams (www.tulsastreetofdreams.com). Or call Shepler at 918-272-011.

6

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Above, the putting green which now highlights the common area for residents of Belmont in south Tulsa.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

AROUND played host to four men’s collegiate tournaments. The 1996 Karsten Creek Collegiate was the course’s inaugural event and preceded the 2001 NCAA Men’s Division I Central Regional.

In 2002, Karsten Creek held the Ping/Golfweek Preview in preparation for the 2003 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. On the women’s side, Karsten Creek played host to the 2001 Big 12 Invitational.

A pair of junior events are on the horizon as well for the par-72, 7,408-yard layout as it will host the American Junior Golf Association-sponsored Ping Invitational on Oct. 6-9 as well as the 2007 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions.

Next year’s NCAA championships will take place at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., while Purdue’s Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind., will be the 2008 host site. The 2009 tournament is slated for Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, and The Honors Course near Chattanooga, Tenn., was chosen for the 2010 event.

ROADMAN RUNS BATTLE CREEK Greenway Golf Management has hired Dee Roadman to serve as the Director of Golf for Battle Creek Golf Club in Broken Arrow. Roadman was formerly the Director of Golf at the prestigious Stevinson Ranch Golf Club in California, another Greenway Golf managed club. Roadman has also previously worked as a Golf Professional at Bailey Ranch Golf Club in Owasso.

“My family and I are very excited to be able to come back to Oklahoma and be a part of such a great opportunity with Battle Creek Golf Club and Greenway Golf” said Roadman. “Broken Arrow is an outstanding community and its support of Battle Creek is tremendous. I’m also excited about the positive relationship we will be able to form with Bailey Ranch in Owasso considering they too are managed by Greenway Golf.”

Battle Creek Golf Club offers an 18-hole par 72 golf course, which can be played at a distance of up to 7,237 yards from the championship tees. In addition to the golf course, Battle Creek also has a new banquet and meeting room which can accommodate up to 200 guests. Located just north of the Broken Arrow Expressway off of Aspen Ave., Battle Creek Golf Club is very convenient to golfers in the greater Tulsa area. For more information about Battle Creek please call 355-4850.

ZIMMEREBNER TO HOT SPRINGS A slow-moving construction project helped Hot Springs Country Club find a new head professional. Tim Zimmerebner, who SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

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SECTION

was the former head professional at El Dorado Country Club, for 15 years, had left in April 2005 to start a new course and housing development in El Dorado with Pete Park.

After getting 15 holes cleared, the construction project ran into several snags with financing. As a result, over the summer, Zimmerebner was able to concentrate on the housing development while the golf course had to wait.

When he heard about the opening at HSCC, Zimmerebner decided to go back to running a golf course instead of building one from scratch.

“I’m a lot more confident in my ability to run a golf course instead of building one and when I heard about the opening at Hot Springs Country Club, I decided working with Barry Howard was too good to pass up,” Zimmerebner said.

Zimmerebner said he decided to let Park handle the rest of golf course/residential project while his father Bill Zimmerebner handles the construction. He said the course will take 18 months to complete.

Zimmebener replaces Jack O’Keefe, who left Aug. 4 to become the new assistant men’s coach at the University of Central

Arkansas. O’Keefe had been the head professional for the past three years.

“I liked his personality and experience,” said HSCC general manager Barry Howard.

“He’s the right person and we’re lucky to have him.”

When O’Keefe left, Howard said he wanted someone who had good teaching skills, since that was O’Keefe’s strength. He feels he landed someone to fill the void.

“He’s a great teacher and a great player,” Howard said. “We’re lucky to have him.

Zimmerebner has been a PGA Professional for 23 years. He started at North Hills Country Club in North Little Rock in 1983 before moving to the Country Club of Little Rock in 1985 and then to El Dorado in 1990.

MUSKOGEE CC TURNS 100 Muskogee CC, founded as a nine-hole sand greens course in 1907, will celebrate its centennial as a club in 2007. It is one of the oldest clubs in the state. Plans for the celebration are being developed. The presentday course was routed by Perry Maxwell in 1924 and was the site of the 1970 U.S. Women’s Open won by Donna Caponi.

Enjoy panoramic views of the Ozark Mountain landscape from some of the most spectacular golf courses located in the Heart of America. These courses are designed to challenge every skill level and the climate is suitable for golf year round. Visit www.golfbranson.com to learn more about the golf experiences awaiting you in Branson, MO. •

G IVE U S A C ALL !

For more information call the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce at 1• 800 • 427•1881 or visit www.golf branson.com

• Branson Creek • Holiday Hills • Ledgestone • Pointe Royale • Thousand Hills • Top of the Rock •

7

N E W C O U R S E S A N D R E N O VAT I O N S

Winter Creek Golf Club inBlanchard has a new clubhouse and is building membership.

Blanchard remains fertile ground for golf course development

By KEN MacLEOD The great and curious Blanchard experiment continues, with as much mystery as clarity.

Blanchard is the small town south of Oklahoma City which suddenly found itself the site of two and then three major golf course developments a few years back.

Basically, investors are hoping lightning will strike twice. The legacy of what happened 30 years ago at Oak Tree in Edmond, when Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser succeeded wildly by building a magnificent golf course in what were then nearly empty lands, remains a powerful lure.

Winter Creek, after years of on-again, offagain development, was the first to open 18 holes, doing so in 2003. The course, designed

by Rocky Rocquemore, is one of the better public-access courses in the state, and this year, a $4 million clubhouse was completed featuring men’s and women’s locker rooms, a fitness facility, dining and banquet rooms and a pro shop.

Mike Shaffer, a native of Guymon who

8

attended Oklahoma State, recently took over as head professional, moving from Palo Duro Creek Golf Club in Canyon, Texas.

“It’s an awesome golf course,” Shaffer said.

“It is similar to the way Oak Tree was in the middle of nowhere 30 years ago. The property is just unreal and everybody who comes out here is amazed at what they see.

“I see huge potential here. We have a lot of folks interested in coming out and living here.

And there’s still a lot that don’t know we’re out here.”

Lot sales, however, have been slow since the course opened, with just a handful of residents and a few spec homes by builders finished. Yet membership at the course continues to grow slowly and is up to 106. Plans are still to take the course private once membership reaches 250. For now, it remains open to the public.

Across the street, there has been activity this summer aimed at completing Indian Ridge, the other 18-hole course, residential complex and equestrian center which had nine holes completed and nearly grown in before the project fell apart over wrangling

between the owners and the bank that was financing the project.

After sitting idle since 2004, Indian Ridge again has an active phone number for lot information and has been sponsoring events with the Blanchard Chamber of Commerce.

However, the list of folks who are reluctant to provide more information is a long one, beginning with owner Paul Kruger and extending through former lead architect Dee Greninger, Blanchard City Manager Bill Edwards and Blanchard Mayor Tom Sacchieri, all of whom did not return phone calls seeking comment.

As far as we can determine, superintendent Lewis Pugh has been doing his best to keep the nine holes originally completed from deteriorating while plans are now underway to begin completing the infrastructure and the second nine. No time frame for all this was available.

As one is heading south from Oklahoma City, the first golf course in Blanchard is neither Winter Creek nor Indian Ridge, but rather Four Lakes.

This course opened as a low-end daily fee, then closed down for a complete rebuild with plans to reopen as an upscale daily fee in the $40 to $60 range, which will place it among the top 10 percent in terms of pricing in the state.

Water issues have slowed the rebuild considerably and the plans now are to reopen in late summer of 2007.

Head professional Richard Buchanon, who lives in south Norman, said it’s an easy 20minute commute and he too drew the parallel between Edmond and Blanchard.

“We’ve got more than 100 home owners already at Four Lakes, so we’re moving hard,” Buchanon said. “Of course, our lots are not what the other two are asking. But there’s a lot of activity here. It seems to me a lot like what Oak Tree in Edmond was. If you can weather the first few years, everything is growing this way. Oklahoma City is growing south, New Castle and Blanchard are growing and so is Norman.”

WOLF RUN GOLF CLUB Despite having some of the most dramatic elevated holes in Oklahoma, Wolf Ridge Golf Club, located on Cavanal Hill near Poteau, has flown under our radar since reopening in July of 2005.

Shannon and Mitzi Burkhart purchased the course that had gone to seed since earlier attempts to open it had failed in the late 1990s.

The site, Cavanal Hill, is billed as the world’s tallest hill at 1,999 feet. If it were one foot taller, it would be classified as a mountain.

The husband and wife team not only purchased and renovated the course, they SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

acquired land for close to 100 golf course lots and have already sold 40. The course, with large L-93 bent grass greens and Bermuda fairways, is also proving popular with golfers from a wide area, including Fort Smith, Ark., McAlester, Heavener and other area towns.

“We’ve been very pleased,” Mitzi said.

“We’re been busy and play has been increasing.”

The clubhouse is perched on the edge of a bluff and has a huge two-tiered deck, a popular place for steak nights on Friday nights.

Some of the notable holes are 3 and 4, two par-4s which play downhill, and No. 8, a downhill par-3 with a great view of the valley below.

Cost is $28 Monday through Thursday and $33 on weekends, including cart. For tee times or more information, call 918-647-2582.

THUNDERBIRD GOLF CLUB Golf has returned to Thunderbird Golf Club in Siloam Springs, Ark., formerly known as Dawn Hill Resort.

The course was closed last year after a membership change to rebuild all 18 greens.

During that time, it was sold again, with the new owner Luther Alkhaseh, an Iranian Christian who barely escaped from his home country with his life.

The rebuilt greens experienced some problems in this summer’s heat and are only now rounding into form, said Brent Lauber, recently hired as head professional. Lauber was the head pro at Shangri-La in Afton, Okla., before a bout with brain cancer, now in remission, sent him into private business the past few years. He said he is thrilled to be back in the golf business.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” Lauber said. “I live just down the road, my daughter is on the golf team and the whole family spends a lot of time at the course. It’s great to be back.”

Lauber said the course has rooms currently available and will soon open16 new units for stay and play packages. The restaurant has reopened and a health club is being added.

For more information on Thunderbird Golf Club, call 479-524-4838.

Photo by Steve Barnett

The sixth hole on the Santa Maria nine at Isabella Golf Course in Hot Springs Village. wanted to do with the diversity in regards to long and short par fours. It has all of the attributes of the other courses.”

“The beauty is they had the luxury of having about a year to let it grow and get into shape and that’s a tribute to the superintendent and director of golf.”

Unlike other courses that have 27 holes, in which the third nine gets ignored, HSV Director of Golf John Paul said that won’t be the case at Isabella.

“They all fit together,” Paul said. “The new nine is still wide open like Isabella, but has a different look to it.”

Over Labor Day weekend, the three-course

rotation fielded 1,000 rounds.

“The residents love it,” Paul said.

“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback and the women love it,” Clark said. “This course can accommodate everyone. While we want to make it a championship course, we also realize there are seniors and plenty of people who are playing from the white, gold and red tees, so we have to make it comparable for everyone.”

Among the notable holes on the new nine are the eighth, a 300-yard risk-reward par-4, and the fifth, a 570-yard par-5, which can be reached by the longer hitters. The ninth hole is a 487-yard par-4, which features two cross bunkers in the fairway.

“It’s a monster of a finishing hole,” Paul said.

The second hole is a 530-yard par-5 and Lake Sophia comes into play on the right side.

Although there are no plans for any more courses in the Village, Clark will begin renovation of Cortez in October. The work will include replacing the common Bermuda fairways with Bermuda 419 hybrid, expanding tee areas, rebuilding the greens, repairing bunkers, installing a new irrigation system, repaving carth paths and adding new trees.

Work on the course should take roughly 18 months.

Jeff Halpern contributed to this report.

The Territory, Duncan, Okla.

ISABELLA GOLF CLUB This is it. Hot Springs Village now has 9.5 golf courses and there’s no room for any more.

On Aug. 22, the third nine at Isabella Golf Club, known as the Santa Maria, joined the Nina and Pinta nines. The new nine plays as a par 36 stretching to 3,630 yards.

Tom Clark designed the course, as he has the vast majority of all the holes in the Village.

“It’s basically a complement to the other two nines,” said Clark. “Isabella had been rated the No. 1 course in the state (by Golf Digest) and I think we achieved what we

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Heckenkemper Golf Course Design a division of Planning Design Group Randy Heckenkemper 5314 South Yale, Suite 710 • Tulsa, OK 74135 Phone (918) 628-1255 • Fax (918) 628-1256 9

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

OSU’s golf team poses with its NCAA national championship trophy. Pictured are: (back row L to R) Pablo Martin, Tyler Leon, asst. coach Alan Bratton, Zack Robinson and coach Mike McGraw (front row) Jonathan Moore and Trent Leon.

Moore, Martin saddled and ready for chase of second NCAA crown

By John Rohde Oklahoma State sophomore Jonathan Moore insists there is no bull’s eye on any of his golf shirts.

“I am by no means a marked man,” the selfeffacing Moore said.

Actually, the Cowboys collectively form one big bull’s eye.

With four of five players returning from last year’s national championship team, OSU possesses an incredibly potent lineup headed by junior All-American Pablo Martin and fellow All-American Moore, who was last year’s NCAA medalist.

The Cowboys have won 10 national team championships, and it’s not crazy to suggest they might be more loaded than ever before.

Martin and Moore were No. 1 and No. 2 in Golfweek’s preseason college rankings. OSU was the preseason No. 1 “because someone first has to prove otherwise,” according to the publication.

Humble as he is, even Moore can’t help but admit he is part of a special gathering.

“It’s exciting,” Moore said. “We have all the ability to be really good. But the bottom line

10

is you have to go out and perform and execute. That’s what every team is going to try to do this year, and we’re no different. Just because you have a talented team doesn’t mean victories are just going to come to you.”

In a magical redshirt freshman season, Moore closed with three straight victories, winning The Maxwell, the NCAA Central Regional and the NCAA title.

Understandably, Moore won the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s top freshman.

Impressive as all that was, Moore still plays a talented second-fiddle to Martin, who captured both the Jack Nicklaus and Fred Haskins awards as the nation’s top collegiate golfer last season. Had Martin chosen to attend the Ben Hogan Award rather than compete in The Maxwell, he likely would have won that honor. Martin also was a unanimous selection as Big 12 player of the year.

This 1-2 punch could be more potent than some previous OSU punch combinations, among them being Tom Jones and Jaime Gonzalez; Gonzalez and Lindy Miller; Miller and David Edwards; Bob Tway and Willie

Wood; Scott Verplank and Brian Watts; Michael Bradley and E.J. Pfister; Alan Bratton and Chris Tidland; Charles Howell III and Edward Loar.

OSU second-year coach and long-time assistant Mike McGraw studies the game as much as anyone, and he can’t remember one team having the nation’s No. 1- and No. 2ranked players.

“I’ve never seen that statistic before, but I can tell you coach (Mike) Holder had a lot of great teams with a lot of great players,” McGraw said. “Jonathan and Pablo have a great amount of respect for each other. They know they need each other. They pull for each other and are very close.”

The Cowboys’ supporting cast members include senior Tyler Leon, senior Ryan Posey, sophomore Trent Leon and possibly true freshman Chris Ward. Waiting their turn will be freshmen Scott Barton, Matt Jager, Ben Tewes and Trent Whitekiller.

Martin and Moore were roommates their first two seasons, but will have new roomies this school year. Though there could be a battle for No. 1, there is no internal rivalry.

“I sure enjoy playing with Pablo and other guys on the team,” Moore said. “I feel we’re lucky because the other three guys could end up being included and they could end up being 1-2 at the end of the season. I think everyone’s that good. It’s definitely a great atmosphere and makes everything fun.

As for successfully repeating their NCAA team and individual crowns, Moore said, “We have more than enough talent, thankfully. It’s just exciting that people are talking about that. I know I’m excited to be a part of that.

There’s a lot that goes into winning a tournament and last year it went well for us. We’re all smart enough to realize winning can’t always be controlled. We’re sure going to play hard.”

OKLAHOMA At Southern Hills in Tulsa last April, the Oklahoma men’s golf team was at the summit, winning its first ever Big 12 championship.

Less than six weeks later at the NCAA Championships, the Sooners experienced the depths of finishing 29th out of 30 teams there and missing the third-round cut by 29 shots.

Such was the ebb and flow of last season for OU, where the highs were high and lows were exceedingly low.

The struggling figures to continue this season because the Sooners lost four of their top five from a year ago.

Gone are seniors Brodie Flanders, Justin Fraley and Shawn LaFontaine.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

COLLEGE ROUNDUP First-team All-American Anthony Kim left a year early and turned pro after the U.S. Amateur. Evidently it was a wise decision because on his first PGA Tour stop, Kim tied for second at the Valero Texas Open and earned $298,666.67.

“I’ve never been that great at school, to be honest,” Kim said. “But I felt like my game was ready. I feel if I play well I can play with anybody.”

The Sooners’ raw squad got its first taste of competition with the fall-opening Fighting Illini Invitational staged at famed Olympia Field, where they finished 12th in the 12-team event.

“If they didn’t believe me before, well, at least now we’ve got their attention,” Ragan said, forcing a chuckle. “I haven’t had anybody quit yet. Sport often is cyclical and this is one of those times. Last year we had three seniors, now we have freshmen.”

The opening roster consisted of junior Phillip Bryan, senior J.J. Wood and freshmen Ben Blundell, Jesse Schutte and Eric Durbin.

Ragan said each tournament will be preceded with open team qualifying. “They’re going to have to earn their way,” Ragan said.

The team leader appears to be Bryan, the lone returning starter from last season.

“Sometimes he brings his A-game and sometimes he brings his C-game, but his attitude couldn’t be any better,” Ragan said of Bryan.

OU WOMEN Junior Kelly Jacques and sophomores Kendall Dye and Staci Smoot lead a team hoping to become a factor in the Big 12 Conference in 2007-08.

ARKANSAS MEN The Razorbacks gave first-year coach Brad McMakin an early present by snapping a winless streak that dated to April 13, 2003, when they won the Del Walker Intercollegiate in their first tournament of the fall.

Leading the way for Arkansas was redshirt sophomore Jason Turner, who tied for third place. The Little Rock native shot even-par, while sophomore transfer Jason Cuthbertson placed 12th.

Cuthbertson and another transfer, sophomore Andrew Landry, will be counted on along with senior Beau Glover and junior Barrett Lais, as the Hogs try to regain a prominent role in the SEC.

ARKANSAS WOMEN Junior Stacy Lewis is the No.1 ranked amateur in the country after a productive summer in which she won the Western Amateur, placed second in the Southern Amateur, was a seminfinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur and played in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic on the LPGA Tour and competed in the World University Games in Corning, Italy.

If the 20th-ranked Lady Backs are to live up

to their ranking, however, Lewis will need help from some newcomers, particularly Alex Schulte, who won the Oklahoma Class 5A state championship her first three years at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa before finishing behind teammate Kelly Fuchik as a senior.

Returnees Ashley Medders, who won the Tyson Embassy Suites Invitational last spring and Lucy Nunn will be counted upon for strong years.

TULSA MEN Veteran coach Bill Brogden has a team with talent and experience. Convincing them of how good they can be is a top priority.

Back are Sam Korbe, who was first-team All-Conference USA last spring, along with second-team performer Mitch Cohlmia and Freshman of the Year Nicolas Geyger. And that’s not to mention seniors Brett Myers and Ryan Henry, who have combined for 23 top20 finishes, 15 of those by Henry. Austin Hackett and Rob Laird add quality depth.

TULSA WOMEN First-year coach Trelle McCombs has some work to do to restore Tulsa to its previous distinction as one of the top women’s programs in the country.

The Hurricane does have talent in juniors Michaela Cavener and and Leslie Hasbrouck.

Please see COLLEGE, Page 33

Oklahomans have Shockers on rise

Ryan Spears of Del City is capable of winning any event he enters.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

With a distinct Oklahoma flavor featuring Tulsa-area players, Wichita State’s youthful golf team has given notice that it is a team to be reckoned with, not in the future, but right now.

With only one junior and one sophomore supported by five freshmen, the Shockers won the Missouri Valley Conference championship at the renowned Prairie Dunes Country Club last spring and advanced to the East Regional of the NCAA playoffs.

Now those are a year older and backed by three new freshmen.

The “old men” are junior Ryan Spears of Del City, Okla., who won the MVC individual title, and senior Cameron Bishop of Tulsa’s Jenks High School who led the team in scoring average at 72.64, which ranked third in the Valley.

A promising newcomer is Ty Sanders, sophomore also of Jenks High, whose scoring average ranked eighth in the MVC last

Kansas Beat Mal Elliott season.

Spears sank a 30-foot putt on the 18th green toz give WSU the Valley title. He was ranked among the nation’s top prospects when he signed with the Shockers in 2005.

He also won the Mid-Pines Intercollegiate tournament in September, setting a tournament record with a 63 in the second round en route to an 11-under par total of 205 for three rounds.

That lifted the Shockers to a secondplace finish, two strokes behind Wisconsin at 849.

Other Shocker golfers added to their Please see SHOCKERS, Page 33

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BYRON NELSON ~ 1912-2006

Byron Nelson listed his victory in the 1930 Southwestern Invitational in Oklahoma City as his most important amateur win.

Nelson cast long shadow in section

By DEL LEMON Golf legend Byron Nelson was born in Waxahachie, Texas (25 miles south of Dallas), in 1912, and died 60 miles up the road, at his ranch in Roanoke, last month at age 94.

During his lifetime, Nelson traveled the world both as a competitor and ambassador for the game of golf. Closer to home, his personal and professional ties with the neighboring states of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas--especially during his formative years--were mileposts along the road to one of the most amazing careers in the annals of sport.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that winning in Oklahoma City was my most important victory as an amateur golfer,” Nelson told me in a 1995 interview, “but it meant a lot. My confidence just soared after that.”

In the spring of 1930 Nelson was barely 18 years old, but already a dominating force in the caddie yards of Fort Worth. He was one 12

of several dozen kids who toted members’ bags at the old Glen Garden Country Club and played in the Monday morning caddie tournaments there. Fellow looper and future golf icon Ben Hogan couldn’t beat him.

Neither could anybody else.

In September of that year, after winning the Glen Garden Classic at his home course, Nelson accepted an invitation to take his game north to Oklahoma City for the region’s most prestigious amateur event--the Southwestern Invitational at Nichols Hills Country Club (later renamed Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club). It was Nelson’s first amateur tournament outside of Texas. If any of the other competitors were even aware of the hotshot high schooler from Fort Worth, they were probably few in number. Even if so, they surely were not intimidated.

In its heyday the Southwestern was something akin to a Texas-Oklahoma border war, the original Red River shootout perhaps.

The field in 1930 was stacked with 97 ama-

teur studs from both states. Among them: the reigning Oklahoma state champion G.A. Mattson; future NCAA champion Walter Emery of OU; Oklahoma Open champion Zell Eaton; three-time Texas Amateur champion Gus Moreland of Fort Worth; and Dallas contractor David “Spec” Goldman – the 1934 US Amateur runner-up – believed to the be the only golfer in history to turn down an invitation to play in the Masters (reasons: wife, job, three kids). Goldman would later accept a second Masters invite in 1959, as a member of the US Walker Cup team.

Like all tournament golfers of the era, Nelson cut his teeth playing the hickoryshafted clubs used by every champion from Old Tom Morris and Harry Vardon to Francis Ouimet and Bobby Jones. They all swung the club with some variation of a buggy whip technique, wrapping the shaft behind the body on the backswing then slinging the clubhead forward with a rolling action of the forearms and wrists. The teaching masters SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

BYRON NELSON ~ 1912-2006 were Vardon and Ernest Jones, who advocated vintage Scottish dogma: “Swing in a barrel.” The lower built you were to the ground--a la Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones-the better it seemed to work. They actually wanted the shaft to twist through impact-”torque” it was called--to give the shots a degree of draw spin and therefore some added distance. Unfortunately for Nelson, he stood 6-foot-2 and skinny as a flagstick.

While torque was a good thing for most players, for the lanky Nelson it was a curse. So he experimented with a more upright swing plane to accommodate his frame. “I could flat hit it a country mile,” Nelson recalled, then paused, “too often into the next pasture. With me and those wooden shafts it just went from bad to worse.”

During spring and summer of 1930, Nelson began to replace his clubs’ hickory shafts with steel. In the United States, steel shafts had been around since the turn of the century, but as of 1929 not yet approved for tournament play by the Royal & Ancient Golf Society of St. Andrews, Scotland, the game’s co-governing and rule-making body with the USGA. That literally changed in one afternoon in 1929 when the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) played the Old Course at St. Andrews with a set of steelshafted clubs.

“At that point they had to legalize them or disqualify the prince,” quipped Nelson.

Once ruled conforming, Nelson took to the steel shafts like Babe Ruth to a fungo. He found that if he kept his head rock steady on the backswing, then drove his knees to the target, he could take the club straight back from the ball and hold it square through impact, with no fear of torque. His shots began to sail true and Nelson recalled he was “striping it” when he hit Nichols Hills, tying Gus Moreland for qualifying medalist, with a round of 73. Unbeknown to Nelson, the fundamentals he began to master that week in Oklahoma City would lay the foundation for the swing technique of every successful tournament professional thereafter.

By the autumn of 1930, the kid from the caddie yard in Texas had unwittingly become the “Father of the Modern Golf Swing.”

The low 32 scorers at the Southwestern advanced to match play. Moreland was eliminated early, but even after Nelson defeated Bud McKinney 4&3 in the semifinals, he still didn’t get much respect going into the finals against 40-year old Tommy Cochran of Wichita Falls.

“The finalists never have met but each is itching to match up,” noted the Daily Oklahoman, in the vernacular of the era.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Photo By Steve Barnett

Tiger Woods stops by for a chat with Byron Nelson at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.

“Cochran appears more eager for the bout than Nelson. Cochran was eliminated by a virtual unknown in the early rounds of the recent Glen Garden tourney at Fort Worth while Nelson went on to capture the cup. So Cochran is champing in his desire to get at Nelson. Wise-heads who have watched the duo stroke their ways into the titular fray have established Cochran as the clear cut favorite. His greater tournament experience should be sufficient to handle the young upstart, they predict.”

Oops. Not exactly the lock of the year-and it wasn’t even close. Resplendent in plus-fours, a starched white shirt and tie, Nelson opened up a 6-hole lead after the µmorning round, then rolled to a 7 and 6 victory, sending Cochran and the sizable gallery packing on the No. 12 green.

“The Southwest was so important for my self-confidence,” Nelson recalled some six decades later. “There were some good players there. When I won at Oklahoma City, I felt like I could play with anybody.”

How did he rank it among his all-time wins? In the epilogue to his 1985 instructional classic--”Shape Your Swing the Modern Way”--Nelson lists each of his 62 career victories year by year, 61 of which he won as a professional. At the top of the list--and the only amateur title to be mentioned--was the 1930 Southwestern Invitational.

Nelson waited until the tender age of 20 to officially turn professional. But even in those early years of the Great Depression the young shotmaker who would come to be

known as “Lord Byron” learned a valuable life lesson--to associate himself with other winners.

“Oh I knew all of the Grouts rather well,” Nelson recalled of the remarkable golfing family from Oklahoma City, which left behind an extraordinary legacy of championships and instruction. “After winning the Southwestern, I began to play a lot of ProAms with Jack Grout (who later became the lifelong instructor to Jack Nicklaus). Jack (Grout) had come to Glen Garden as assistant to his brother Dick (1927 and 1929 Oklahoma Open champion). After Dick took a job with Texarkana Country Club, Jack was the best pro around and I had become one of the best amateurs. We won those ProAms so many times that the other pros got together and made a rule that a pro could only play with the same amateur once a month. That gave the other boys a chance.”

Nelson turned professional in 1932. The following spring, the Texarkana (Ark.) Country Club hired him as its professional, a position he held for two years. Times were more than tough. The Great Depression hit every place hard, but it had Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas in a stranglehold. Nelson said he was so thankful to have the income from his job in Texarkana, but even then he was stretched thin. In 1933 he tried to play in a few PGA events without any money and ended up hitch-hiking back home from California.

Nelson’s career did not take off over night.

In 1935, he entered the PGA Championship at Oklahoma City’s Twin Hills Golf and Country Club, missing the cut. In 1936, he finally won his first pro tournament, the Metropolitan Open. In April of 1937, Nelson won the Masters, his first major championship.

When World War II began, Nelson volunteered for the military but couldn’t pass his physical. “I was a bleeder (hemophiliac),” said Nelson. “They classified me 4-F.” In 1944. Nelson teamed up with a Kansan – Harold “Jug” McSpaden--to win the Minneapolis Four-Ball. In March of 1945, they partnered again for a win at the Miami Four-Ball, the first of Nelson’s amazing 11 victories in a row (and the only partnership event). McSpaden, known for his cannon power off the tee, later designed and constructed the 8,101-yard monster--Dubsdread Golf Club near Piper, Kansas. So lucrative was the Nelson/McSpaden partnership during the war years that the media nicknamed them the “Golddust Twins.”

“I don’t know why,” McSpaden told writer Curt Sampson, “but in 1944 and 45 we were 13

BYRON NELSON ~ 1912-2006 just so tuned in. It didn’t matter where we course (now called Falconhead Resort) Turner delivered on his promise, throwing were playing, we were tearing it apart. We southwest of the city, near tiny Burneyville, in a saddle and bridle for good measure.

“Remember the old line about not looking were on a little different level than the rest of and moved their tournaments there. Over them. During one stretch I was 69 under par the years, Waco’s “Poor Boy Opens” attract- a gift horse in the mouth?” Nelson asked. ed some of the biggest names in golf (Jack “Well when the tournament was over, the and Byron was 65.”

Coming out of Miami, Nelson embarked Nicklaus played at Burneyville a few weeks sheriff of Ardmore rides up to the 18th on the consecutive win streak that has been before winning the 1962 U.S. Open), includ- green on a beautiful palomino mare and I compared in degree of invincibility to Joe ing 15 future Bob Jones Award winners and climbed up on her. But I could tell right away we probably weren’t going to get DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and Wilt World Golf Hall of Fame inductees. along--she was wall-eyed and Chamberlain’s 100 points. turned out to be the meanest, Next he won at Charlotte, toughest old cuss you ever then Greensboro.

At saw in your life. They delivDurham – Nelson’s fourth ered her to my ranch down in victory in a row – he was Roanoke. I tried to ride her a paired in the same group couple of times, even in a with Twin Hills head profesplowed field. But it was no sional and Ardmore native use. I finally gave her to a Jimmie Gauntt, who finfriend of mine in the oil busiished third. ness who had a ranch south of “Byron was the best I ever Dallas. I said, ’You got some saw,” recalled Gauntt, a fivegood cowboys down there?’ time champion of the He said he did.’Well give ’em Oklahoma Open, from his this horse.’ A month later he retirement home in told me, ’You were right, they Lakeway, Texas. “At that couldn’t handle her either.’ She time he could take a driver probably ended up as dog off the fairway and hit it like food.” a 3- or 4-wood, up in the air.

To the end, Nelson remained At Durham he birdied the connected to golf (Masters par-3 18th hole each of the telecasts, Shell’s Wonderful last two rounds, set up with World of Golf commentator 1-iron shots from 195 yards. with Chris Shenkel, and offiI made three and four on the cial host of the PGA Tour’s hole; Byron made two Byron Nelson Classic in Dallas twos.” each year from 1967 through Nelson capped his amaz2006). Louise passed away in ing run with a flourish, win1983, which was a devastating ning the PGA Championship loss to Nelson. But he remarin July and the Canadian ried a few years later, and it Open in August.

In was his wife Peggy who stood September, he played at Photo courtesy Beryle moore Estate with Nelson in his twilight Tulsa’s Southern Hills Waco Turner, right, presents the Palomino horse Ginger to Byron Nelson for appearing in years, promoting the tournaCountry Club in the Tulsa the 1954 Ardmore Open. Ginger, mean and wild, could never be broken. ment that bore his name.

Open, finishing in fourth By the early 1950s Nelson was completely During Nelson’s 40-year association with place, 8-over par, and 11 shots behind winner Sam Snead. Following the 1946 season, content at his home on the range, his career the event, the volunteer-driven Dallas Nelson and Louise, his bride of seven years, as a tournament pro finished. He enjoyed Salesmanship Club tapped enormous returned home to Texas to raise horses and working with livestock, especially the hors- sources of donor funds in the Metroplex es he tended at his Fairway Stables. Waco area, benefitting an array of charities. cattle at his Roanoke ranch.

In addition, Nelson’s professional guidNelson rarely played competitive golf Turner appreciated that so in early 1954 he after 1950 – but made the occasional excep- made “cowboy” Byron an offer he couldn’t ance helped numerable touring pros reach their potential, including Edmond’s Scott tion – one being the 1954 Ardmore Open, at refuse.

“Waco contacted me more than once Verplank, and Tom Watson of Kansas City. the invitation of a wealthy wildcatter, His friends in the game spanned the Oklahoman Waco Turner. From 1952 about playing up there,” Nelson recalled in through 1963, Turner and his wife Opie feted 1997. “Even though the purse was pretty globe. As golfers in Kansas, Arkansas and celebrity studded parties, and doled out hefty for those days, and he offered bonus Oklahoma can attest, he was a good neighhuge sums of cash, as sponsors of 10 tour money for birdies and eagles and such, I bor. events in Oklahoma (6 PGA and 4 LPGA). wasn’t really interested. But Waco told me if Del Lemon, a 1975 OSU graduate, is a When the Turners had a falling out with the I would come up and play, he would give me freelance writer living in Austin, Texas. board of directors at Ardmore’s Dornick a fine horse.” Nelson said he did not play His book, “The Story of Golf in Oklahoma,” Hills Country Club, they built their own golf particularly well (78-71-75-74), but that was published by OU Press in 2001.

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SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Woodward welcomes challenge of renewing tour life

By KEN MacLEOD Jim Woodward and Jim Kane will try to join fellow Oklahomans Gil Morgan, David Edwards, Doug Tewell and Ron Streck on the Champions Tour for the 2007 season.

Woodward has given up his job as director of golf at Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City and is honing his game for a run at the 2007 Qualifying School. Prior to then, he’ll go to Florida this winter to play on the winter club pro series, then try some Monday qualifiers on the Champions Tour once he turns 50 on June 5.

Woodward played the PGA Tour from 1990 to 1995. His best years were 1990, when he finished second in the Canadian Open, and 1992, when he had two top-10 finishes and won a career-best $161,301.

His lack of a victory on the PGA Tour means he will have to qualify through Q School instead of enjoying a past champions exemption. Although the Champions Tour keeps reducing opportunities for players without gaudy PGA Tour records, Woodward said he will find a way on tour if he’s good enough.

“If you play good and be patient, you will get out there,” Woodward said. “I went through qualifying school to get to the PGA Tour and stayed out there for five years.

“I’ve said all along, I’m not afraid of anybody that’s 50. I’m still very healthy, I can hit it plenty far and I don’t have the yips. There’s nobody I look at and say there’s no way I can beat him. There’s nobody out there that scares me. If there was, I wouldn’t even try this.”

Kane, who played at Oral Roberts University on the famous team with Bill Glasson and Jim Norton, recently moved from Kansas to Edmond and has been playing and practicing at Oak Tree Country Club in preparation for his own run at the Champions Tour. He qualified for and made the cut in the PGA Championship this year at Medinah, earning South Central Section Player of the Year honors in the process.

Kane had one full year in 1984 and was fulltime on the Nike Tour in 1994. He will turn 50 in January of 2008.

Woodward, who has won a host of section events in the past five years, said he has high hopes that he’ll be able to be successful on the Champions Tour.

“I think I’m a lot better player than when I played the tour in the early 1990s,” he said.

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Photo by Mel Root

Jim Woodward is confident of success on the senior circuit.

“One of the things that will tell me for sure is a solid year of tournament competition and we’ll have to see how that unfolds.

“It’s my last try and I’m rolling some big dice. But if I don’t do it now, my competitive days are done and I really don’t want to quit.

Plus if you can go play against other 50-yearolds instead of guys like Tiger, it’s a lot more fun.”

While Woodward and Kane prepare for their runs at the last chance for glory tour, Tulsan Dan Dorman decided this year to give the junior circuit another chance.

Dorman, a Tulsan who had tried the mini-

tours before concentrating on the promotion of a putting device he invented call Pur Stroke, began working on a new more powerful swing with instructor Don Maddox.

The results were encouraging.

Dorman was at home one day, as he describes it, “sitting there in my boxers, overweight and out of shape,” when the bell rang.

He realized he wasn’t making the most of his life, or at least wouldn’t feel right until he gave the game one more chance.

“I decided to take the next five years and Please see WOODWARD, Page 17 SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Austin lends support to Nuckolls’ third career

By MAL ELLIOTT WICHITA, Kan. – Rod Nuckolls will soon launch the third stage of his golfing career as he goes after an exemption on the PGA Champions Tour. He’ll be a youngster on the Tour for golfers 50 and older. He turns 50 in February of 2007.

Nuckolls, who owns Willowbend Golf Course with his brother and partner Rick, is used to being the young kid on the block. At the age of 17, he tied a record in winning the 1974 Independent Insurance Agents Junior championship with a 4-under-par 67 and a 36-hole score of 137. Another Wichitan, Grier Jones, set a record in the professional division of the same tournament. Nuckolls was also twice medalist in the Kansas Amateur and was runner-up in 1979.

At the age of 23, Nuckolls went on the PGA Tour and had three top-10 finishes in five years but couldn’t maintain enough momentum to keep going.

In his rookie year, he ranked among the top 25 in hitting greens in regulation. “My putting wasn’t as high as I would like, but those two have an inverse relationship,” he said. “The biggest challenge is being close to the lead. On the PGA Tour, I would get close to the lead and I would hit a few loose shots.”

Twice Nuckolls has been Player of the Year in the South Central Section of the PGA. Now he’s going to compete on the senior level, which has proved to be a pot of gold for many. Another Kansan, Jim Colbert, had a literal “epiphany” on what was then known as the Senior Tour. After a typical career on the PGA Tour, he became a superstar by leading the seniors in money earned for several years.

“The guy I traveled with most on the PGA

Woodward Continued from page 16 dedicated it to playing golf,” Dorman said.

“My wife said she would be happy to support me in doing this, which was a big factor.”

Dorman practiced for a few months before going out for a round with Maddox, the former taching professional at Southern Hills Country Club. The two played at the Broken Arrow Athletic Club and Dorman set a course record with a sizzling 62.

The round bean with three birdies, but SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Tour was Lonnie Nielsen,” said Nuckolls.

“The last three years, he has made close to $2 million on the Champions Tour. I visited with him quite a bit.”

After careful consideration, Nuckolls is ready to take the plunge. He has some serious support. One key ingredient is a close relationship with Woody Austin of Derby, Kan., one of the PGA Tour’s leading figures with more than $8 million earned.

“Woody plays out here (at Willowbend),” said Nuckolls. “He has helped me get my competitive edge back and has helped with my swing. He can tell me where I ought to

be now. Playing with him and seeing how he competes is a good reminder of what I ought to be doing.

“He can see my swing and tell me almost instantly what’s going on with it. And he has been very gracious in helping me. He even said if I get to the national (qualifying), he’s going to be my caddy. That’s fun.”

Nuckolls said his previous experience of travel and pressure on the PGA Tour is bound to help. Unlike his PGA Tour days, this time there will be no pressure.

“Everybody who was on Tour before and is trying again can think of things that would make them more competitive,” he said.

“I’m not going into it not knowing what I’m getting into,” he said. “I like to think I have a good situation here at Willowbend.

We have a great staff. I will be playing with confidence and without tension.”

So on Oct. 29, Nuckolls will tee it up in a regional qualifying tournament in Beaumont, Calif. Ninety players will advance from four regionals to the national qualifier in Coral Springs, Fla., Nov. 15-18.

They will be taken on a pro rata basis from the regionals. The low 30 will win their Tour card.

The key enticement is the Champions Tour’s new concept of qualifying. In the past, only seven new players were taken each year. This year, there will be 30 new faces. In addition, there will be a Tuesday qualifying for other spots in the weekly events.

“There are no cuts on the Champions tour,” said Nuckolls. “So if you get in, you’re going to make some money.”

In 2006, there was $52.65 million up for grabs on the Champions Tour. With the new qualifying rules, that will entice a lot of golfers.

one bogey and one birdie later Dorman was still 3-under at the turn. The back nine was more interesting, as Dorman opened with a birdie than eagled the par-5 11th hole by hitting a 3-wood to one foot away. His only “freak” shot of the day came on 13, when he jabbed his third shot in the hole from the woods. He made three more birdies on the closing stretch to finish with nine birdies, one eagle, one bogey and a whole lot of confidence.

“I realized, with the pressure I had put on myself to play well in front of Don, there was

no reason that your mind and your body can’t reproduce that,” Dorman said. “It’s no longer about hitting shots. It’s a mental exercise to get out of the way and allow yourself to do what you’re capable of doing.”

Dorman will try to qualify for the Hooters Tour next year and begin working his way up the ladder.

NOTES: Peter Vitali is the head professional at Gaillardia, while Danny Cline has taken over as general manager. Cline comes to Gaillardia from the LaQuinta (Calif.) Resort & Club, where he was director of operations.

Photo by Mel Root

Rod Nuckolls is honing his game for a run at the Champions Tour.

17

2006 JOHN Q. HAMMONS HOTEL CLASSIC

Section will have two LPGA events in 2007

By TIM LANDES and KEN MacLEOD SemGroup, L.P., a midstream energy services company based in Tulsa, is the new title sponsor of the local LPGA event, which will move to May 4-6, 2007, to avoid conflicts with the PGA Championship at Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club in August. Hotelier John Q. Hammons, title sponsor for the past three years, continues as a presenting sponsor.

SemGroup is one of the largest and most successful privately owned companies in the nation. Tom Kivisto, president and CEO, said his company was committed to the event to help better the quality of life in Tulsa for his employees and all Tulsa citizens.

“One of the main reasons we got involved with the LPGA was not only because we saw a chance for our company to get more involved, our employees to get greater engaged in the community, but I’ve never been around greater professionals in my life,” Kivisto said. “They are great ambassadors to the sport, they’re engaged, they’re appreciative of the sponsors and it’s just a pleasure to be around them. We look forward to being involved with them for many more years to come.”

After three years of support at a lower level, SemGroup signed a two-year deal with an option for three additional years to become the event’s third title sponsor in six years and to keep the event in Tulsa.

“I’m not from Tulsa and I see it in a different light than a lot of those people who grew up here,” Kivisto said. “Some people think there’s nothing to do here, but I think it’s an incredible place to live. The topography is beautiful, you look around and see all the great things Tulsa has to offer. The LPGA is a great addition to everything else this community has to offer.”

SemGroup will immediately raise the purse to at least $1.3 million, putting it back near the top of all 54-hole events. In the past few years it had slipped to near the bottom of those events in payment, though it had still managed to attract qualify fields.

“We want to get it back to being the top purse for all three-day tournaments,” said Tim Erensen, tournament director for Octagon.

The event also signed a two-year extension with Cedar Ridge to remain the host facility.

The Northwest Arkansas Championship presented by John Q. Hammons will kick off with a $1.25 million purse Sept. 3-9 at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers. Hammons’ commitPlease see SEMGROUP Page 19 18

Photo by Mel Root

Cristie Kerr played remarkable golf at Cedar Ridge to win the Hammons Hotel Classic.

Kerr’s magnificent putting staggers Sorenstam, rest of LPGA field

By TIM LANDES After day one of the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic, back-to-back defending champion Annika Sorenstam looked as if she was on pace to win her third straight Hammons Classic after tying the course record with a 7-under 64.

But on day two of the three-day event, Cristie Kerr became the first person to

shoot 10-under at Cedar Ridge, with a 10birdie, no-bogey 61, which gave her a onestroke lead going into the final round. She converted four putts of more than 25 feet.

“It was awesome,” Kerr said.

“Absolutely awesome. I’ve shot 9-under probably six or seven other times, but had a chance as of late to go ahead and break Please see HAMMONS, Page 19

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

SemGroup

Continued from page 19

ment to the event is similar to his contract in Tulsa, but the tournament will also benefit from financial support from Wal-Mart and the Pinnacle Group.

The plan is for the events to be held back-toback in the fall beginning in 2008. One of the few factors that could derail that plan is if the Tulsa event, by getting away from competition with college football, happens to be much more successful in the spring from an attendance and sponsor standpoint. Although attendance figures released by various LPGA events are so inflated as to be essentially meaningless, it is known that the Tulsa event is already one of the top draws on tour and that situation could improve in the spring.

Chris Hicks, senior vice president for the LPGA, said the LPGA was able to move some events around to give Tulsa spring dates for 2007 and was happy to do so, considering the new title sponsor and the new event Octagon has put together for Northwest Arkansas.

The LPGA and new commissioner Carolyn Bivens have taken a battering from the national media this year over her management style, an exodus of former employees and her relationship with certain sponsors. However, adding the Northwest Arkansas Championship and coming up with a solid title sponsor in Tulsa will be two welcome additions.

“When you filter out the rhetoric, what’s been happening inside and outside the rough is all good,” Hicks said. “When your ratings are up 35 percent, internet 40 percent and attendance 10 percent, and you have new companies like SemGroup investing in us, those are indicative of how we’re doing. Don’t judge us by what people say, but by how we’re doing.

Those numbers are the true measure of success for all parts of the LPGA.” The host courses will provide different tests for the LPGA players. Cedar Ridge, after allowing just 12 golfers to finish under par the first two years, had 25 in red numbers this year, thanks in part to soft greens and no wind.

Those two factors could be considerably different in the spring, though the rough will be sparser.

Pinnacle, meanwhile, though a fine course in its own right, could provide much more of a shootout, depending on the setup. The course is currently replacing its bent grass collars with zoysia and installing new drainage in several greens with a new system that only requires the greens to be shut down for a few days.

“With the cooler weather, the course is really back in good shape,” said Director of Golf Paul Eiserman. “We’re all very excited about the tournament. We think it’s a win-win for the community, for us and for the LPGA.” SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Hammons Continued from page 19 that. Today was great.

“It was a magical day out there.”

Early in the final round, Sorenstam regained the lead by two strokes through 10 holes, but then Kerr tied it with back-toback birdies on holes 11 and 12.

With the duo tied at 12-under through 14 holes, Kerr capitalized on a 38-foot birdie putt to take the lead for good. She later sunk an 18-foot birdie putt to pad the lead at 17.

“I’m sure glad that ball went in,” said Kerr about her birdie putt at 15. “But I think 16, 17 and 18 are the toughest holes on the course and I knew I was going to have to play spectacular golf to stay ahead of her. Even having a four-shot going into the last three holes cannot matter.”

Even though she was unseated as the tournament champion for the first time in three years, Sorenstam said she could not complain about her performance.

“I thought I played pretty solid today,” Sorenstam said. “I believe I hit 18 greens, which is not too often. So 18 greens on this course, a lot of chances, but just – just couldn’t really make them (putts) when I needed to.

“All credit to Cristie. She played well.

She shot 4-under on the back, birdied two difficult holes, 15 and 17, so she played really well.”

While spectators got to watch a dramatic conclusion in the final round matchup, they also got to see strong finishes from players with local ties.

Former Oklahoma State All-American Karin Sjodin finished the Hammons Classic tied for seventh, which is a career best.

Sjodin entered the final round at 3-under and started hot, birdieing the first two holes to move into third, but finished the day at 4-under after bogeying holes 10 and 11, and birdieing 16.

Former Tulsa standout Stacy Prammanasudh shot 1-under in the final round to finish tied for 36th at 2-over for the tournament.

After setting the course record with a 10under 61 on Saturday and winning the tournament Sunday, Kerr said she was glad she decided to play at Cedar Ridge for the first time.

“I heard from everybody how great the golf course is and that it’s heavily involved with the tournament,” Kerr said. “I didn’t want to go and forfeit this tournament.

“I’m sure glad I didn’t.”

Tulsa’s Most Scenic Golf Course Tee Time Reservations: 918-246-2606 1801 N. McKinley • Sand Springs, OK 74063 19

Southern Hills takes strides toward PGA

By KEN MacLEOD

hoto by Mel Root

Dennis Bowman checks out his new purchase, Cobblestone Creek Golf Course in Muskogee.

Bowman can come home again with purchase of Cobblestone Creek

By KEN MacLEOD Dennis Bowman is back at Cobblestone Creek Golf Course in Muskogee, this time as the owner.

Bowman, the head pro and superintendent at Pryor Golf Course, has formed a management company to run Cobblestone Creek, an upscale daily fee course in Muskogee that he helped build and was part-owner of prior to its 2001 opening.

Bowman has a lease-purchase agreement with current owner Mark Kizzia. Terms were not specified.

Bowman said Cobblestone is in good condition and averaging close to 25,000 rounds per year. It is one of two public courses in this resurgent city, the other being Eagle Crest, which has recently reverted back to an 18hole facility from 27 holes.

Muskogee has rebounded from some difficult economic times which bodes well for the future of both courses. Mayor Wren Stratton reports a 72 percent increase in building permits issued in 2006. The civic center is being renovated and a fiesta market square is under construction. Barge traffic is booming on the Arkansas River.

Bowman was pleased with what he found at Cobblestone Creek. The addition of a large irrigation lake close to holes 13-16 has given the course the option to soon cease using city water. Course conditions are solid and Bowman will look to make improvements.

20

“It’s in really good shape,” Bowman said.

“They’ve installed new irrigation and it’s paid off in a big way. This is the first dry year that they’ve been able to keep the course green all year.

“There’s a big market for a quality golf course in this area, as long as it’s maintained and operated correctly. It seems like Muskogee is really starting to do pretty good again. It seems like it’s a good time for us to come in and try to give the golf course a bit of tender, loving care.”

Bowman has done the same at Pryor, increasing rounds and revenue since taking over in 2002. The course once received a lot of spillover rounds from Tulsa, but that dried up once Tulsa and its suburbs added more than 150 golf holes between 1989 and 2001.

However, with the help of Internet services such as GolfNow.com, those out-of-town visitors are starting to come back and Bowman hopes to do the same in Muskogee.

“If we can get this up to around 30,000 rounds, we’ll really have the money to maintain it properly,” he said.

Ron Norris, Bowman’s right-hand man on both the pro shop and maintenance operations in Pryor, will be helping to run Cobblestone Creek. Bowman had not decided on other personnel as yet.

Across town at Eagle Crest, owner Derek Wheeler, who purchased the course from Wayne Coppage in July of 2005, has spent the Please see BOWMAN, Page 21

All in all, 2006 was a good year not to have the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.

From a spectator standpoint, it would have been brutal. Temperatures in the high 90s for the practice rounds, then highs of 103, 105 and 101 the first three days of competition before cooling off to 94 for Sunday’s final round.

The July and August heat took its toll on courses throughout the section and Southern Hills was no exception. The green collars, which consisted of the same blend of A-1 and A-4 bent grass as the greens, suffered greatly, leading the club to replace the collars on all 18 greens with Tif-Sport Bermuda.

Simultaneously, the club began to install fans on some of the lowest level greens, beginning with holes 2, 5, 6 and 7.

That was the situation greeting new superintendent Russ Myers, who came on in early September to replace John Szklinski, who resigned for personal and family reasons.

There are no guarantees that 2007 will be significantly cooler, but from an agronomy standpoint, the club is better positioned to withstand another blast furnace summer. Besides changing the grass and adding fans, it is experimenting with a Precision Air system, which allows cool air to be pumped into the greens from below during times of extreme heat.

Myers, who came to Tulsa from Card Sound Golf Club in Key Largo, Fla., said the course has benefited from the cool September weather and is back in excellent condition. He has spent his time getting familiar with Southern Hills and his crew, as well as the members and staff, and also in beginning preparations for the PGA Championship.

He has already met with Kerry Haig, the PGA of America’s director of championships, to discuss such factors as height of the Bermuda roughs, fairway widths, green speeds and mowing patterns. For instance, the thought is to adjust mowing patterns to try to bring more of the fairway bunkers back into play.

The low scores shot at this year’s PGA Please see SHCC, Page 21

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

SHCC

Continued from page 20

Championship at Medinah Country Club, won by Tiger Woods at 18-underpar, are not expected at Southern Hills, which will play as a par-70 for the PGA Championship.

That doesn’t mean that Woods or someone else won’t exceed the 11under shot by Nick Price in the 1994 PGA Championship. Tom Lehman was an amazing 14-under through three rounds of the 1996 Tour Championship.

In the 2001 U.S. Open, however, Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks tied for the lead at 4-under through the end of regulation.

The scores will depend in large part on course setup and Myers said from his discussions with Haig, there will be no special effort made to discourage scoring based on what transpired at Medinah, where records were set in the first and second rounds for most players under par and the final scoring average of 72.5 set a record for lowest ever in relation to par.

“Kerry wants the rough to be playable, not an automatic pitch out,”

Bowman

Myers said. “He wants the players’ talent to show up. If he is good enough to hit the green from the rough, than he’ll have a chance to prove it.”

Soft greens were judged to be the biggest culprit in the birdie barrage this year. Southern Hills’ greens are smaller and more undulating. As for being more firm, well it’s still going to be the middle of August.

“We’ll do everything we can to produce firm and fast greens for the PGA Championship, but we’re not going to do anything to jeopardize the greens beyond the PGA,” said Director of Golf Dave Bryan.

Bryan said he believes with the eight fewer par-5 holes on the par-70, the winning score will be closer to 10-under.

However, he’s no longer putting anything beyond the reach of Woods.

“I made a bold statement in 2001 that I did not think he had the patience to play and win at a golf course like Southern Hills,” Bryan said. “I think he has now acquired the patience and the thought process to win here. His concentration, along with his strength, ability and work ethic are unsurpassed.”

Continued from page 20

past year working to improve conditions both on the course and in the court of public opinion.

Coppage was close to closing the course out of frustration with several issues, including the intractability of members who claimed they were offered free golf for life when purchasing nearby lots. Wheeler has worked hard to put the ship in order.

“I’ve gone toe-to-toe with them and we’ve had several confrontations,” he said. “People who want to respect the golf course and the rules are welcome here, but those that didn’t, I put the hammer down on that pretty hard.”

Wheeler, a former mini tour player who worked for Ross Elder at Mohawk Park in the 1980s, has also made on-course improvements.

The greens are in tremendous condition and the collars around the greens have been restored. Eagle Crest, with its length, small greens and numerous water hazards, remains a sobering challenge, though efforts have been made to make it more golfer-friendly.

Play has been picking up steadily. A rerouting is planned for 2007 that would utilize a few of the holes from the nine-hole addition that was added in 2000 but is now unused.

“It takes time, but everything is improving here,” Wheeler said.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Photo by Mel Root

New superintendent Russ Myers said conditions for the 2007 PGA Championship will be tough but fair.

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D E S T I N AT I O N S

Big Designs New links add to San Antonio’s allure as golf destination The Republic is one of the new courses golfers can play on a trip to San Antonio.

By ART STRICKLIN San Antonio and the surrounding South Texas region has long been one of the most historical and traditional settings on the Texas golf landscape.

It was home of the first public course in the state at Brackenridge Park, the first true green-grass greens also at Brackenridge along with the founding of the landmark PGA Tour event at the Texas Open in 1922.

Historic golf promoter John Bredemus and famous architect A.W. Tillinghast also made multiple stops in San Antonio.

It was the first and longest-standing home of the Texas state junior championship along with the site of the first PGA Tour win

by South Texas native Ben Crenshaw.

But lately, San Antonio has taken on a positively 21st-century tone with new courses opened and upcoming, both public and private, for an ever-growing market.

In 2006 alone, three private courses opened in the San Antonio area: The Clubs at Cordillera Ranch, a Jack Nicklaus-design just outside Boerne, west of San Antonio; Boot Ranch, a Hal Sutton-design in Kerrville, 22

WHERE TO PLAY TPC-San Antonio www.pgatour.com 800-556-5400

Hyatt Hill Country www.hillcountry.hyatt.com 210-647-1234

Briggs Ranch www.briggsranchrealty.com

River Crossing www.rivercrossgolfclub.com 830-904-4653

Tapatio Springs

Buckhorn www.foresightgolf.net 830-995-5351

The Golf Club of Texas www.thegolfcluboftexas.com 877-golf-TEX

The Republic www.foresightgolf.net 210-359-0000

Olympia Hills www.olympiahills.com 888-945-6463

www.tapatiosprings.com 800-999-3299 and Tom Fazio’s Escondido in Horseshoe Bay, plus the public Hyatt Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop.

The biggest news in 2007-2008 will fall on the public-course side with the opening of

two public-resort courses at the new TPC of San Antonio designed by Pete Dye and Greg Norman, respectively, along with a huge JW Marriott resort.

The addition of the Dye course, which could play host to the Texas Open as early as 2008, has local golf leaders thinking San Antonio is poised to take the next step as a regional and national golf destination.

“I have always said more courses attracts more golfers which is better for the San Antonio area,” said area golf expert Buddy Cook, part-owner of the Fazio-designed Briggs Ranch development in San Antonio and who has served as director of both PGA and Champions Tour events in town.

“The new TPC courses will put San Antonio on the map both nationally and internationally,” added local golf promoter Jack Parker, who owns the 27-hole Tapatio Springs resort in Boerne and is also associated with the public Quarry course near downtown San Antonio.

“Every course will do better with the new TPC courses because it will simply bring Please see COURSES, Page 25 SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

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Courses

Continued from page 22

more people to San Antonio,” Parker said.

When the golfing tourists arrive, they will certainly find a wide variety of courses to sample on the South Texas golfing buffet.

“The real beauty of San Antonio is that you can be here 10 days and play 10 different courses,” said Republic director of golf Quint Alexander.

When golf is finished for the day, that’s when the true strength of San Antonio emerges.

“In San Antonio we’ve got the Riverwalk, the restaurants and the parties along with the large Six Flags-Fiesta Texas and Seaworld,” said Cook. “I took Arnold Palmer down to the Riverwalk when he was here and he couldn’t believe how much it had changed in 30 years. We almost couldn’t get him to leave.”

Here’s a brief look at San Antonio’s newest wave of courses, public, private and resort.

THE REPUBLIC: San Antonio’s newest daily-fee course located in south San Antonio, near public gem Pecan Valley, site of the 1968 PGA Championship. The Republic, a par-71, 7,001 yards from the tips offers a peaceful trip through the South Texas pastureland. There are no houses on the course and few can be seen in the distance. The course simply follows the natural routing of the land with Salado Creek coming into play on several of the holes.

There are a couple of drivable par-4s on the course and a 245-yard par-3, the 17th, but all in all this is a very fair test of golf. An added bonus to the great golf is the daily greens fee usually in the $40-$50 range.

HYATT HILL NEW NINE: The Hyatt Hill Country brought back original architect Arthur Hills to add nine additional holes, which officially opened in early 2005, Rather than build a separate nine-hole layout, Hills incorporated his new nine into the original 18, giving the facility three distinct nine-hole layouts, Oaks, Lakes and Creeks. Each of the nine ends at the spacious clubhouse where a cold beverage at Charley’s Long Bar awaits the thirstiest of golfers.

Hills added a manmade lake on his new nine holes along with dozens of new bunkers and a couple of par-5s reachable in two shots to tempt the most macho of golfers. Also new to the Hyatt is the GPS tracking system which was installed on all carts to give the golfers an accurate layout of each hole and tips on how to play them.

RIVER CROSSING: This semi-private layout in Spring Branch, 15 minutes north of Loop 1604 on Highway 281, gently moves across the South Texas prairie, framed by native

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

X

The Hyatt Hill Country Resort can present golfers with a thorny situation. live oaks, mesquite and natural brush. There is a peaceful setting about the entire River Cross experience as you rarely see anything other than a passing golfer and the wideopen Texas spaces.

OLYMPIA HILLS: This public layout is proof-positive that city services done right can be a real benefit to the entire community. Tired of waiting on golf for their area, the San Antonio suburb of Universal City had this par-72 layout built in 2000 and serves as the owner and operator. Golf Digest has ranked it one of the 10 best public courses you can play and with elevation changes of at least 50 feet it’s easy to see why. The affordable price and ease of location, just east of I-35, makes it a very popular golf attraction.

BUCKHORN: Local in the small South Texas town of Comfort, Buckhorn, owned by the same group as The Republic, promotes itself as Hill County Cool, otherwise known as laidback, unpretentious and nonthreatening. The par-72 layout, 6,648 yards from the back tees, isn’t likely to do permanent damage to your scorecard or ego, just a cool way to spend a relaxing Hill Country afternoon.

BRIGGS RANCH: The first new private course in San Antonio since The Dominion and Club at Sonterra opened in the mid1980s was also the introduction of the first Tom Fazio-designed course in the city. Fazio has been hailed as golf’s great living architect and he did a masterful job of framing his par72 course against the many scenic South Texas oak trees. There is an extensive practice facility along with a huge new clubhouse

under construction. Former British Open champion Bill Rogers serves as captain or director of golf at the course along with Cook and his son, Brian, the head professional.

GOLF CLUB OF TEXAS: Dallas native Lee Trevino designed his only Texas signature courses here, located just across the street from Briggs Ranch. The public par-72 layout measures just over 7,000 yards from the back markers, but can play more wide open from the forward tees and yield good scores to the precise ball strikers who navigate the 44 bunkers and water on 11 holes. A huge Texas-style ranch clubhouse is the perfect setting for dinner, banquets or just relaxing after another enjoyable round.

TAPATIO SPRINGS NEW NINE: Utah architect Billy Johnston didn’t do many courses, but the ones he did have more than stood the test of time. Such is the case with Tapatio Springs. The first 18 holes from Johnston were opened in the 1980s, with the new nine coming in 1999. Johnston made his latest the sternest of his nines, routing the course up hills and around water to test all phases of a player’s game. Owner Parker said Johnston has already done the routing for an additional nine which could begin in the near future.

The old saying there are no second acts in life certainly doesn’t apply to the San Antonio golf market as it continues to grow and expand for a new generation of South Texas visitors and golf tourists.

Art Stricklin is a former San Antonio resident and the author of Links, Lore & Legends: The Story of Texas Golf.

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D E S T I N AT I O N S

Black Bear Golf Club, the Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell addition to the Audubon Golf Trail, is as strong as its name implies.

Black Bear lifts Audubon Trail to new level

By KEN MacLEOD One can argue whether Black Bear Golf Club, the state of Louisiana’s first foray into golf course ownership and management, should exist at all. What cannot be denied is that State Rep. Francis Thompson’s baby bear is set to leave its paw prints on the golf world.

Black Bear is the newest – having opened in July – and arguably best course on the Pelican State’s Audubon Golf Trail.

It is located just north of Delhi in northeast Louisiana, barely an hour from the Arkansas border and just a few minutes north of Interstate 20.

The course is on land in which Thompson, D-Delhi, a force in Louisiana politics for 31 years, has persuaded his fellow lawmakers to allocate more than $40 million over the years for construction of a reservoir, marina and now golf course in the hopes of turning this area into a popular recreation destination and hopefully retirement community.

26

PLANNING A TRIP Audobon Trail golf www.audobontrail.com 1-866-248-4652.

Poverty Point is also one of the most important archeological sites in the U.S. The Lower Mississippi Valley was home to advanced civilizations as early as 1750 B.C. and the area is rich with artifacts and ruins.

The golf course was designed by Randy Russell and Roy Bechtol of Austin, familiar to area golfers for their work with Tom Kite in renovating Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City. The state has moved Eric Kaspar, director of the Audubon Golf Trail, to the course to be the director of golf while still managing Trail operations.

The course fits into its scenic natural setting like a glove and looks like it’s been around for a decade or more. The club-

house, on the other hand, is still under construction and should be open next summer. Kaspar and his crew are operating from a trailer until then.

In Black Bear, Bechtol and Russell were aiming for a playable resort course that was visually pleasing and a championship caliber test of golf. Mission accomplished.

“I think we used the land real well,” Russell said. “We’re very, very pleased with how it came out. I think the par-3s, as a group, are diverse and all solid. All of them will look very different and play very different.

“The closing stretch, 15 through 18, all have different challenges and are strong holes. I really didn’t think there was a weak hole on the course.”

Black Bear starts off with a dogleg right over water that requires golfers to make a decision on how far they can carry the ball. Similar decisions on attack angles and best places to miss are required throughout, though there are no blind SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

shots or trickery involved. Most of what is required is self evident off the tee box, you’ve just got to have some skill to execute it.

The course conditions are immaculate.

The greens, using Tif-Dwarf Bermuda, are firm and fast, nicely sculpted into their settings and have plenty of movement.

Fairway bunkers are strategically placed and have fairly high slopes for greater visibility, a factor that will also contribute significantly to the degree of difficulty for average golfers. However there are no bunkers on some of the more difficult holes, such as No. 8, a 476-yard par-4 with a long narrow green, heavily wooded down the left side.

Most of the course is tree lined, with numerous varieties of oak the most prominent. Wildlife lovers may catch a glimpse of the course’s namesake, as several bear have been spotted. There are no alligators on the property, though a large one had to be removed during construction.

The addition of Black Bear adds tremendously to the northern swing of the Audubon Trail. Golfers can now visit Black Bear, Calvert Crossing in Calhoun, 10 miles from West Monroe and Olde Oaks in Shreveport, all on the I-20 corridor within two hours of each other. If you’re stopping near Delhi, the Poverty Point State Park has wonderful log cabins. In Shreveport, there are five major casino resorts that offer stay and play packages.

Calvert Crossing, the in-between course, has one of the toughest opening holes we’ve seen, but mellows out considerably from there and provides a very pleasant round full of rising and falling, tree-lined golf. Some holes require precision; others invite you to do your best John Daly gripit-and-rip-it imitation. Again, Bermuda greens and fairways.

Olde Oaks has 27 holes designed by Hal Sutton, divided into three distinct nines, the Meadow, the Oaks and Cypress. We sampled the Meadow and Cypress, both good but the Meadow nine stood out welldesigned holes by tall native grass. The Oaks is tighter and tree-lined, while Cypress has more elevation and water.

Michael Ross, the director of golf at Olde Oaks, said the addition of Black Bear will be a benefit to Olde Oaks, which already derives about 60 percent of its play from visitors.

“Black Bear will really help,” he said. “It seemed like Calvert and ourselves were up here all by our lonesome, with the majority of the Trail courses in the southern region. With all of us right off the Interstate, it will make a nice convenient package for golfers.”

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Olde Oaks near Shreveport has 27 holes designed by Hal Sutton.

27

LA -INT G -A om 1-866 onGolf.c om b c u .

Aud naTravel a i s Loui David Toms for the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism © 2006

Jacobsen credits Kansas teacher for success “I have no idea where my golf career would be had I not met Jim Hardy”

By JIM MISUNAS As characters go, there have been few professional golfers as funny as Peter Jacobsen.

He can imitiate the swing of virtually any professional he’s ever seen, along with the proper body language and mannerisms.

As swing coaches go, there aren’t many who command the respect of Hutchinson, Kan., native Jim Hardy. His eye is so well trained he can watch golfers swing, then tell them whether their back or shoulder hurts when they play golf.

The fact that Jacobsen and Hardy got together is a tale of talent, timing and circumstance. The fact that they’ve carved out a niche with Jacobsen-Hardy Golf Course Design is a testament to how well they’ve worked together over the past 11 years.

Jacobsen has made more than $10 million in earnings, most of it after he met Hardy, a Hutchinson native who earned All-American honors in 1966 at Oklahoma State. They’re both a little foggy about exactly where they cemented their relationship, but they both agree it was the best life-changing decision either has made.

“I have no idea where my golf career would be had I not met Jim Hardy,” Jacobsen said. “During your life, if you’re lucky, there are a couple of influential people that help you out and make your life easier. There’s my father, who taught me the game of golf, and Jim Hardy is right at the top of my list.”

Hardy has been recognized among America’s 50 Greatest Teachers by Golf Digest and ranked among Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America. But Jacobsen said Hardy’s knowledge about the golf swing ranks him in an elite class.

“There is no teacher that I’ve ever met that knows more about the golf swing than Jim Hardy,’’ Jacobsen said. “He’s taught me a lot about my own golf swing.”

Their unlikely pairing was triggered in 1983 when Jacobsen was playing at Riviera Country Club in the PGA Championship that was won by Hal Sutton. Hardy had gone into teaching after playing the tour in the late ’60s and early ’70s and often attended the practice rounds to verify how players he coached were swinging. Jacobsen had heard of Hardy’s reputation and asked him if he’d Please see PROFILE, Page 36 SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

Peter Jacobsen has a laugh at the 2006 U.S. Senior Open in Hutchinson.

Photo by Mel Root

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A big Thank You to all of the sponsors and participants at the OGA events this year. A great tournament schedule took us to some of the very best courses in Oklahoma, and the turn out was exceptional.

As we have said, we have some truly outstanding courses in Oklahoma and playing in OGA events provides everyone the opportunity to experience them first hand.

As you read this we are preparing the schedule for next season and, by all indications, we will continue to provide the best competition in the state.

At the beginning of this season, we announced the adoption of new guidelines for the pace of play in our events. At the time, we could not have imagined the tremendous success we were about to have using the new program.

We thank Dick Rundle, a USGA Committeeman from Dallas, the originator of the system, for his assistance in putting the guidelines into final form. The USGA has in place a variation of Rundle’s creation for their Championships and they, too, experienced great success.

The new guidelines essentially turn the responsibility for pace over to the players and that is the key. Each group has an assigned time to complete nine holes, and eighteen holes, and each player in the group receives penalty stokes when they are late. There is no timing of individual players as has been done in the past, with much consternation by the slower players.

On average, the pace using the new guidelines is right at four hours and ten minutes, which represents a reduction of about thirty minutes from each round. We believe the players have endorsed the new guidelines as they enjoy the benefit of the faster pace.

One of the comments we receive after a

The golf course landscape requires proper management, including labor, water, fertilizer and soil conditioners, mowing equipment and operators, and pest control.

The pest control portion of this process stirs the most debate amongst golfers, homeowners and special interest groups. I am going to discuss some of the history and current issues about chemical use on golf courses.

Pesticide use in the landscape has been very prevalent since the end of World War II. Weed control, insect control and turf breeding were all part of the wartime research effort. In fact, the land the Pentagon now sits on was the original site of the National Turfgrass Evaluation 30

OGA Views Rick Coe OGA Executive Director penalty is assessed is that there was no “warning” as to the potential for a penalty.

This grievance is not well taken as the procedures are defined in a document provided to each player at the beginning of each event. It behooves each player to be aware of the Rules that will apply during an event and we usually find that the ones who were penalized did not take the time to read them.

Our response is simple; when you are standing on a green and can’t see the group in front of you and, looking back, you see a group waiting in the fairway and another group waiting on the tee, what more needs to be said.

Of interest, we have yet to reach the point where a group is slow to finish the back nine after receiving a penalty on the front nine.

We thank the players for their efforts in addressing the pace problem and, with their cooperation, we will strive to make our events enjoyable for all.

Let me remind everyone to check with their clubs to see that they have a license to issue a Handicap Index under the auspices of the USGA. That program went into effect on July 1.

If a license has not been obtained, you may not have an acceptable Handicap Index for participation in various events.

Now would be the ideal time to bring your club into compliance so everything will be in order for next year. Call the OGA with any questions and to obtain the requisite application.

Superintendent’s Corner Brian Peterson, CGCS Greens Country Club, Oklahoma City Program (NTEP).

Why was this important for the war effort? Soldiers needed to be able to avoid disease from insects, and farmland and grassland needed to be useable after the war to feed livestock and people. There were many innovations developed during this time to achieve these goals.

Many of these older chemistries are still in use today. They are effective, relatively inexpensive to produce and apply, and under proper use, are safe for humans and the environment.

This would be a great time to visit the golf facilities that are located in the Oklahoma State Parks. Fall is ideal for golf in Oklahoma and the courses are all in great shape.

We keep hearing about golf outings to other states to play their “Trails” but you can enjoy the same experience right here at home. Each course is located in a state park and there are various other activities for the family members who do not partake in the Grand Game. You will be surprised at the reasonable rates, which are available for lodging and green fees.

One of the highest ranked courses is Chickasaw Pointe on Lake Texoma. It is listed among the best courses in Oklahoma on a regular basis and the reputation is well deserved. The course, designed by Randy Heckenkemper, was opened in 1999. The view from the cliffs overlooking the lake is well worth the trip.

Arrowhead State Golf Course is located on Lake Eufala just north of McAlester.

This course was opened in 1966. Because of its location you will find it easy to sneak into Krebs for world famous Italian dining after your round. And while you are in the area, you will want to play Fountainhead Golf Course near Checotah and then travel to play Cedar Creek State Park near Broken Bow. While you are in the Western part of Oklahoma, there are two great courses with features that are unique to that part of the state. Fort Cobb State Park Golf Course is a must play. Another course, Roman Nose near Watonga, is in the beautiful red-rock canyon country and provides a Native American theme.

Contact the Oklahoma Tourism Agency for more details and expect to be pleasantly surprised at the outstanding facilities which await you.

Today, there are many new chemistries available. Some of them have been developed through necessity (i.e. to combat a specific problem) while others are replacing some of the older products discussed earlier.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires registration of chemical compounds for their production, sale and use. To register a product is very expensive, as it requires years of testing and research to provide historical data to the EPA for evaluation. Some of the older products have been abandoned simply because it is too expensive to re-register them. Two products are in that position Please see SUPER, Page 35 SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

The Arkansas State Golf Association (ASGA) will induct four men and one woman into the 2006 Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame. The banquet and induction ceremony will be held Nov. 1 at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock.

Louis Lee, who has won nine ASGA Championships, headlines this year’s class that includes Jack Jordan of Monticello, Tanna Lee Richard of Fort Smith and Al Alexander of Arkadelphia.

William “Bill” Martin will be a posthumous induction.

Lee won the 1975 ASGA Stroke Play Championship at the Texarkana Country Club; 1977 and 1978 ASGA Match Play at the Hot Springs Country Club, and five state 4-ball championships with his brother Stan, a 1999 inductee. Louis also won the ASGA Junior Stroke in 1974 and earned all SEC honors all four years at LSU and was honorable mention all American in 1977.

Jordan’s career was well-established when he holed a 5-iron from 173-yards to win the 1999 ASGA Senior Stroke Play at the Pine Bluff Country Club. He began the hole trailing C.W. Knauts of Piggott by a stroke, who made a par-4 and lost by one.

Jordan also won the 1998 Senior Stroke at Pine Bluff Country Club, 2000 Senior Match at Helena Country Club and the ASGA Senior Player of the Year titles in 1997 and 1999 and was runner-up in 1998 and 2000.

William “Bill” Martin built the Longhills Golf Club in Benton in 1955 and designed at least 35 courses in Arkansas and Missouri. Longhills, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, was the home club of numerous state champions including Barry Howard, Jack O’Keefe, Bart Owens and Judy Besancon. Martin also served as the “unofficial” coach of the Benton High School golf team, that produced four state championships. He sold Longhills to current owners Bud Busken and Jeff Hamm in 1986.

Tanna Lee Richard, 48, won the 1973 and 1974 Arkansas State Girls Junior Championship and played on the University of Missouri Lady Tiger Team 1975-1979. She won the AWGA State Match Play in 1980 and the AWGA Stroke Play in 1996. From 1987-2000, she competed in all 14 USGA Women’s MidAmateur Championships, reaching the quarter-finals in 1987 and 1989. She qualified and competed in 13 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships 1979-2000, reaching the quarter-finals in 1990. She continues to play at scratch from the men’s white tees at Hardscrabble Country Club. She is married to Ron Richard, a SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

ASGA Views Jay Fox ASGA Executive Director 1996 Hall of Fame inductee.

Al Alexander, who turns 84 in May, joined the ASGA Board of Directors in 1985 and immediately went to work. He volunteered his time and resources to travel the state measuring golf courses with a laser called a “mini 10.” The process was a lengthy one, requiring a tripod to be set-up in the fairway and measurements were taken to the front and back of the green, establishing the center.

Then the person holding the crosshairs drove to the teeing grounds and each measurement was recorded. Sometimes, one hole would take 30 minutes, resulting in a full day’s work to measure all 18. He has measured more than 150 courses, many on more than one occasion. One of the ASGA’s most active board members over the past 20+ years, he also chaired the club representative committee and was elected to the Executive Committee, serving the Association as Secretary.

For more information, contact the ASGA at 501-455-ASGA or www.asga.org.

NEED TO

Louis Lee has won nine ASGA State Championships, including five with his brother Stan.

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I hope everyone enjoyed the Ryder Cup Matches, which recently concluded with Europe retaining the Cup for another two years. If there is a finer display of sportsmanship anywhere in the world, I would like to know where it is.

The leaders of each of the nations should have been in attendance to see that people can, in fact, get along.

One of the most exciting parts of the three-day event is the format, which is the “Foursome.” It has been a part of this grand game for ages, but it is not played regularly in the United States. Perhaps the PGA should conduct an event using this format so our team will have some experience playing it.

Since it is novel, it has some very special rules that apply.

We will review some of those rules and point out some of the differences from the more commonly played format, the fourball.

As a change of pace, you might try a Foursome for your next Saturday morning game. I know you will enjoy the change of pace.

The term, “Foursome,” is misused in every day parlance. We have a tendency to see a group of four players and use the term to describe them. In golf, when you tack on

The rules of golf Gene Mortensen Rules Director, Oklahoma Golf Association the word “some” it indicates the players will be playing some of the time.

In a Foursome, the players hit alternate tee shots and alternate shots until each hole is completed. Each side plays one ball.

Likewise, the term “Threesome” indicates that two players are playing an individual and each side is playing one ball. Again, the side with two players will only be playing some of the time, hitting alternate shots.

The first task for the side in a Foursome event is to select which tees (odd or even) each player will be assigned. Quite often the par-3 holes will be spaced so that one player will have more of them and this can be used to the team’s advantage when one player does not hit the long ball, or in couples events.

The same goes for second shots on long par-5s. Since the format requires alternate shots, it is essential that the correct order be maintained during the round. When the players are not accustomed to doing this, it is easy for them to revert back to old habits.

Rule 29 states that when a player makes a shot out of turn, a penalty is assessed. If the event is match-play, the side incurs the loss

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of that hole. In stroke-play, the error is more serious. The side incurs a penalty of two shots and it must correct the error by playing out the hole in the correct order. If the side fails to correct the error, and plays from the next tee, it will be disqualified.

One of the features of a format using alternate shots is that penalty strokes do not affect the order of play. For example, player A hits the ball into a water hazard and, in taking a drop, incurs a penalty of one stroke.

Player B plays the next shot. If player A hits the tee shot and elects to play a provisional ball, player B will play the provisional. In this example if the first ball is found, player B will hit the next shot and if the provisional ball becomes the ball in play, player A will hit the next shot.

In mixed events, when the male partner hits a ball out of bounds from the back tees, his female partner must play the next shot, also from the back tees.

A word of caution here; in situations where a shot does not count, the player is required to play again. If player A hits a tee shot from the wrong teeing ground it is a non-entity and he must play the shot from the proper tees. It would be wrong for player B to play that tee shot as it is still A’s turn.

In the more commonly played Four-Ball, Please see RULES, Page 33

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Jim Woodward of Oklahoma City won the Golf Passport Section Championship at Muskogee Country Club with a 3-under score of 210. Tim Graves of Edmond was second at 212.

The Pro-Scratch Championship, sponsored by Red Bull, was held Aug. 21, 2006 at Belmar Golf Club in Norman, Okla.

Woodward and his partner Kelly Huddleston from Gaillardia Golf Club in Oklahoma City and Glen Rose and his partner Chance Tatum shared the title with great team scores of 64.

The South Central Section would like to introduce David Reddick, who is the new owner of the Golf Passport. The Golf Passport has been one of our main sponsors for a number of years and we are glad to report that Reddick will continue to support the section and our Section Championship in the future. You can reach him at 14526 Enterprise Place, Oklahoma City, 73128 or by phone at 405-949-0011.

The Pro-Assistant Championship was

Shockers

PGA Views Barry Thompson SCS Executive Director held Sept. 5 at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond. The team of Tim Fleming/Kyle Flinton from Quail Creek G&CC in Oklahoma City won the event with a great team score of 95, followed by the team of Tim Fleming/Aaron Kristopeit and Mark Fuller/Matt Larson from Oak Tree Country Club with team scores of 97. This popular event is sponsored by Callaway Golf and sales reps Eric Meracle and Tom Funderburk.

All four chapters held their Chapter Championships on Sept 11. The winners were: Arkansas Chapter Champion and Senior Division Champion Bob Ralston Kansas Chapter Champion Rod Nuckolls

ing Wichita Country Club on a $12 million Continued from page 11 expansion and renovation project which will last for three and one-half years. resumes with impressive performances Cozby is the head professional who this during 2006. year was given the additional title of Chief Sophomore Brad Boan of Olathe, Kan., Executive Officer of Kansas’ oldest private was runnerup in the Kansas State Amateur golf club, founded in 1900. championship, losing to his former Olathe In June of 2003, the club completed a East High School teammate Drew Lethem redesign of the golf course by Jeffrey in the 36-hole title match. Boan was a 4.0 Brauer, golf course architect of Dallas, and student in high school and is headed for a expansion of its driving range. degree in mechanical engineering.

The new project will include construcSanders won two titles, the Wichita city tion of a 7,000-square-foot golf cart buildmatch play and the Oklahoma Golf ing, but the rest of the money will be spent Association state match play events. on expanding the clubhouse, adding a Matt Lazzo of Wichita, a WSU freshman, casual dining room, larger patio, mixed teamed with Josh Taylor of Overland Park grill and lounge and expansion of the fitto grab the Kansas Golf Association Junior ness center and tennis courts and swimTeam title. ming pool.

And Brandon Hermreck, sophomore The club will remain open throughout from Stilwell, Kan., teamed with Zechariah the project.

Potter, another sophomore from Cheney, Terradyne Makeover Under Way: Wichita’s Kan., to capture the KGA Four-ball crown. Terradyne Resort and Country Club is also So WSU heads into the 2006-7 season in the midst of a renovation project. A new, with momentum and confidence. It could three-hole practice area and driving range be the best ever season for Coach Grier is under construction west of the club.

Jones’ Shockers.

Remodeling of the dining room will be Jones, a former Oklahoma State All- completed by the end of the year.

American and standout on the PGA Tour, is The resort hotel which included some 40 in his 12th year as head coach and his WSU guest rooms is being remodeled into teams have won six of the last eight Valley offices. There is no timetable for the tournaments. remodeling of the hotel because the offices Jones was the PGA’s Rookie of the Year are being tailored to the desires of the in 1969 after winning the 1968 NCAA indi- occupants and will be completed as space vidual title and the PGA Tour qualifying is leased. tournament. He also won the 1966 Kansas No changes are planned for Terradyne’s Amateur crown.

18-hole golf course designed by Don Wichita CC Expanding: Cary Cozby is lead- Sechrest and opened in 1987.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

and Senior Division Rick Nuckolls Western Oklahoma Chapter Champion Tim Fleming and Senior Division Chuck Coatney Eastern Oklahoma Chapter Champion Brian Talley.

The Senior Team Championship sponsored by Srixon and Ron Page and Page & Tuttle with Bruce Hollowell was held Sept.

25 at Oakwood CC in Enid. The team of Andy Schaben and Dan Langford, Jr. won the event with a score of 98. Host professional Tim Mendenhall and his partner Fred Forbes followed closely with a team score of 100.

The Las Vegas Pro-am is almost here and this year promises to be as fun packed as the past events. The Section returns each year to the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, which has been the host hotel for the event for the past 12 years. Each year the section holds the 32 5-man team event at a different course and this year it will be Silverstone Golf Club in Las Vegas. Everyone is ready to go!

College

Continued from page 11

Cavener had four consecutive top-10 performances in the spring. Transfer Tara Goedeken from Wichita State and redshirt freshman Ashleigh Odgers will be counted on for support.

OKLAHOMA STATE WOMEN The Cowgirls, as is often the case, are led by a talented Swede, this year it is sophomore Permilla Lindberg, who finished 14th in the NCAA Preview Tournament in Daytona Beach.

Sophomore Amanda Johnson of Jenks is poised for a breakout year. The Cowgirls will also count on seniors Mallorie Underwood and Candy Herrera.

ORU MEN The Golden Eagles began the fall season by winning the team title at the Mean Green Classic with its lowest team score since the Bill Glasson-led squad of 1980. It was also ORU’s first regular-season team title since 2000.

Senior Mauricio Tamez tied for second in that event with rounds of 69-71-69. Also in the top 10 were Austin Hannah and Tyler Sullivan. Filling out the five-man rotation are Eric Barentt and Jesse Blom.

ORU WOMEN Pamela Ontiveros has already won the Centenary Classic for ORU this fall, while Tulsa native Christy Carter tied for ninth to lead ORU to a top-1o finish at the Jeannine McHaney Invitational in Lubbock, Texas.

33

A Kansas-born architect who became the most prolific golf course designer in the Midwest and a Kansas girl who achieved her dream of a successful career on the LPGA Tour were inducted into the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame Sept. 29.

The new enshrinees are the late Floyd Farley and retired LPGA veteran Deb Richard.

Farley was inducted posthumously and his plaque was accepted by his grandson, Mark Estabrook, who made an emotional and intimate acceptance speech.

Farley was born in Rosedale, Kan., a small town that has long since been swallowed up by the expansion of Kansas City. He designed or redesigned more Deb Richard than 100 golf courses between the 1930s and 1990s, mostly in Kansas and Oklahoma. He created or recreated 15 layouts in Kansas and a large majority of the resort lake courses in Oklahoma’s state park system.

He was a member of a legendary Rosedale High Floyd Farley School team that included Jug McSpaden, who with Byron Nelson became the PGA’s “gold-dust twins” of the 1930s and 1940s; Farley and Farley’s boyhood chum, Charlie Wiesner, who was a long-time pro at Tulsa’s LaFortune Park.

Those three terrorized high school teams in the Kansas City area and Rosedale’s team was reputed to be the equal of any college team of the 1920s.

Farley retired to Sedona, Ariz., and shot his age regularly until macular degeneration cost him his eyesight. He died in 2005 at the age of 98.

Richard is one of Kansas’ three USGA Women’s Amateur golf champs – Miriam Burns Horn in 1927, Jean Ashley in 1965 and Richard in 1984. She also became a member of the LPGA’s Million-Dollar Club in her first six years on Tour.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony was at Manhattan, Kan., Country Club where Richard was surrounded by many of her friends and supporters from her days as a junior and teen-age golfer. She 34

KGA Views Mal Elliott was accepted into the regular “game” with half a dozen of the club’s adult men, including Jack Hartman, former Kansas State basketball coach.

“This is an opportunity to say thank you,” she said. “I was just a little kid with an incredible dream. All of you were out there cheering me on. You didn’t know that the dream would really happen but you supported me.”

Richard came bearing gifts for two of the Manhattan CC pros who guided her in her formative years – Steve Graves and Ron Schmedeman.

“I didn’t have the dream until I met you,” she told Schmedeman.

She also said Kansan Judy Bell, former USGA president, changed her life when she harangued her into entering the 1984 Women’s Amateur tournament. Richard told Bell she didn’t like match play.

“I was tired of shooting 71 and losing and seeing another golfer shoot 80 and advancing. But Judy told me if I didn’t

send in an entry form she would enter for me.”

She entered, and won. That earned her a spot in the World Cup Championship in Hong Kong where she led the U.S. team to victory. Then she led the University of Florida to its first NCAA championship and was a three-year All-American. She is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.

Richard won two Kansas Amateur crowns and had a successful professional career which could have reached even greater heights except for a series of injuries. But now she says she is healthy and happy and retired to Florida at the age of 43.

Graves said Richard was an outstanding golf figure but deserves to be in the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame based solely on her record as a humanitarian. In 1987, she created and endowed the Deb Richard Foundation, which has provided 16 scholarships to needy students in cooperation with the University of Florida and will continue to award a yearly scholarship into the foreseeable future..

“I was put in a position where I could make a difference,” she said. “I love to be with kids. I have spent a lot of money to send kids to college and they’re out there changing the world.”

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Rules

Continued from page 32

each player is playing his own ball on each hole. Most penalties are assessed against one of the individuals and this could result in that player being disqualified from a hole.

This does not present a problem since there are two balls in play and each side only needs one ball to count.

In a stroke play event, according to Rule 31 it is imperative for the gross score to be attributed to the player who actually scored the ball to count. The failure to properly record the score of the player to count is the reason many of the teams face disqualification.

We encourage you to change the formats you use for the regular game, as the variety will add enjoyment to the game. And when the change is made, don’t forget that there will be specific rules that apply.

One of the most common errors that Rules Officials regularly see is the failure on the part of players to read the Local Rules and Pace of Play Guidelines for each event.

This is so easy to remedy and, yet, we see the dilemma at least once in each event.

It seems that if the Committee doesn’t put the hole location information on the reverse side of the Local Rules, they are thrown into the first trash bag the player sees.

If the hole locations information is on the back side, we know that the players will save that and, should a problem arise during the round, they will, at least, have the necessary information.

I would like to suggest the following procedure for each player in any competition: obtain the Local Rules prior to your tee time and spend just two minutes reading them.

Ask the starter any questions that you have when you finish reading the document.

I promise that it will be the best two minutes you spend during each event and guarantee it will save you needless penalty strokes and, quite possibly, disqualification.

Super

wayside. Some were eliminated due to environmental concerns, some were simply outdated. There will be more compounds up for review by the EPA in the future.

Golf course superintendents, as a whole, are amongst the most responsible users of pesticides in the agricultural world. Golfers in the United States expect pristine golf course conditions.

Pesticide use is necessary to achieve these conditions. Without some of these products, it will be difficult and expensive for golf courses to keep up with customer expectations. It seems that an already difficult job of being a golf course superintendent is going to become more trying.

There will have to be change. It will have to be a combination of changing golf course expectations with a reduction of some turf management practices. It will be a difficult transition in our age of mass marketing and instant gratification.

What will be the catalyst for this to happen? Golf course superintendents are waiting and wondering, too.

Continued from page 30

now, an herbicide known as MSMA, and a fungicide known as PCNB. In our area, MSMA is used throughout the South as the primary herbicide for crabgrass, goosegrass, dallisgrass and other weed control. If MSMA is no longer available, golf course and landscape managers will have to turn to different products that are effective, but are slower to work and much more expensive. This expense will trickle down to the golfer and homeowner.

PCNB is primarily used in the North as a fungicide to combat snow mold from turfgrasses that sit under significant snow cover over the winter months. There are not any adequate replacement products for PCNB at this time that have the same length of control time for the winter patch diseases.

What will the cost ramifications of this be to golf courses and landscape managers?

These are just two products. Several insecticides have already gone by the

Weekly Scramble N

Complete range of golf equipment and apparel N

FOURSOME TIPS • It is essential that the correct order of alternating shots be maintained during the round. Going out of order can result in penalties, including disqualification.

• Penalty strokes do not affect the order of play. For example, player A hits the ball into a water hazard and, in taking a drop, incurs a penalty of one stroke. Player B plays the next shot.

• In situations where a shot does not count, the player is required to play again. If player A hits a tee shot from the wrong teeing ground it is a non-entity and he must play the shot from the proper tees. Player B cannot play the shot.

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

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35

Profile

Continued from page 29

watch him hit some shots on the range prior to the tournament.

Hardy agreed and watched a while, but said nothing. Jacobsen kept hitting shot after shot until he was ready for some feedback. He asked Hardy for a review of his swing.

“I don’t know if you’re ready to hear what I’ve got to say,’’ Hardy said. “But the way you’re swinging, you’ll eventually have to fight a bad back.”

Hardy had no idea that Jacobsen had already started to fight nagging back pain as a 29-year-old professional. Jacobsen didn’t like the handwriting he could see on the wall. He was insistent of making an immediate change despite Hardy’s protest.

“Let’s do it in the off-season. This isn’t something you try and do overnight,” Hardy said.

But Jacobsen’s passion and ability to focus on the task at hand convinced Hardy to give Jacobsen an overnight swing change.

Hardy showed Jacobsen some key swing points and watched in amazement.

“In a few minutes, Peter Jacobsen showed me he was the best imitator of a golf swing that I’d ever seen,” Hardy said. “Most players would take several weeks to incorporate a swing change. Peter had that rare ability and eye for detail that he was able to take the swing change to the golf course. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.”

Sutton edged Jack Nicklaus for the ’83 PGA title, but Jacobsen was one stroke behind the leaders until the 72nd hole.

What Jacobsen didn’t realize, what no one realized, was Hardy’s attention to detail and understanding of the golf swing. Hardy’s book “The Plain Truth for Golfers,” illustrates how golfers develop a one-plane or two-plane swing. When Jacobsen met Hardy, he was the epitome of a two-plane swinger on the verge of breaking down physically.

The way Jacobsen was swinging across his body was creating physical problems.

“I didn’t even know there was a two-plane swing until I met Jim Hardy,’’ Jacobsen said.

“Shows you how much I knew about the golf swing at that point in my career. I began to understand there are two different road maps to a golf swing.”

Hardy said “The Plain Truth for Golfers” was the No. 1 selling golf book in the country last year and has been translated into several foreign languages. A DVD series is currently being produced. Hardy works with players such as Tom Pernice, Dan Pooley, Dusty Waldorf, Bob Tway and Graham Marsh. Pooley was one of his notable reclamation projects after Hardy diagnosed him 36

with future back, shoulder and elbow problems after seeing him swing. When Pooley told him he had back, shoulder and elbow ailments, he quickly became a Hardy disciple.

Hardy said one-plane swings are easier to manage and create much less stress because the swing is on the same plane. But the ratio of players with one-plane and two-plane swings ends up fairly even, which means Hardy will never be out of a job.

“It’d be better if 75 to 80 percent of the players had a one-plane swing and that’s the way I prefer it,” Hardy said. “The players with the two-plane swing seem to fight back problems because when they’re hitting, they come across their body.”

Hardy and Jacobsen rarely been apart since that fateful day in Los Angeles and have nothing but mutual respect over the past 23 years. Jacobsen is a tireless promoter of golf and its accompanying charities.

Hardy said Jacobsen is one of those rare individuals who’s your friend for life.

“To be honest, Peter is my hero,’’ Hardy said. “He’s my best friend for life, a dear friend. We treat each other like we are brothers. I’ve known Peter for 23 years and I’ve never seen him have a bad day. He’s my role model. Whenever I get in a pinch or don’t know what to do, I always ask, ’What would

Peter Jacobsen do in this situation.’ “ They’ve worked together on golf-course design since 1995 when they formed Jacobsen-Hardy Golf Course Design. Their design philosophies are mirror images.

“The original reason I became a golfcourse architect was Prairie Dunes has a couple of things that are so perfect,” Hardy said. “One is the idea of risk and reward, offense and defense. That is brilliant golf architecture.”

Jacobsen and Hardy have current projects in California, Texas, Oregon and Montana pending with recent courses completed in Texas, Oregon, California and Florida.

“It’s about as much fun as you can have because I enjoy Jim’s company and we see eye-to-eye on most everything,” Jacobsen said. “Our goal is to create something memorable, a golf course that you’ll remember but one that you’ll always have fun on. We always strive to make playing a challenging golf course an enjoyable experience.”

Throughout the years, Jacobsen considers Hardy to be a family member more so than a friend.

“Jim is the type of gentleman that I would entrust everything in my life to if I had to be away,” Jacobsen said. “When I returned, everything would be exactly like I left it.

Those types of friends are hard to find.”

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S C H E D U L E S A N D R E S U LT S

SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

37

S C H E D U L E S A N D R E S U LT S For up-to-the minute results and competition stories, visit daily at southcentralgolf.com

PRO LPGA JOHN Q. HAMMONS CLASSIC At Cedar Ridge CC, Broken Arrow, Okla. (par-71) Sept. 8-10 1, Cristie Kerr 70-61-68 – 199 ($150,000); 2, Annika Sorenstam64-68-69 – 201 ($91,766); 3, Lorena Ochoa 69-69-65 -- 203 ($66,570); 4, Diana D’Alessio 66-72-66 – 204 ($51,498); 5 (tie), Jenna Daniels 74-67-67 – 208 and Sun Young Yoo 71-69-68 – 208 ($37,681); 7 (tie), Karin Sjodin 69-70-70 – 209, Karine Icher 71-70-68 – 209, Candie Kung 71-72-66 – 209, Allison Hanna 68-69-72 – 209 and Meena Lee 70-69-70 – 209 ($22,961); 12 (tie), Laura Diaz 71-71-68 – 210, Wendy Ward 70-72-68 – 210, Dortohy Delasin 71-72-67 – 210, Beth Bader 74-69-67 – 210 and Julieta Granada 70-71-69 – 210; 17 (tie), Maggie Will 70-70-71 – 211, Becky Iverson 70-70-71 – 211 and Hana Kim 72-7069 – 211 ($12,494).

OKLAHOMA OPEN At Oak Tree CC (East), Edmond (par-70) Sept. 15-17 1, Kyle Flinton 66-72-69 – 207; 2, Mike Wendling 69-73-66 – 208; 3, a-Rhein Gibson 69-69-73 -- 211; 4 (tie), John Bizik 71-69-73 – 213 and Ben Kern 69-76-68 – 213; 6, Clint Colbert 74-69-71 – 214; 7 (tie), Billy Brown 73-72-70 – 215 and a-Daniel Mitchell 75-68-72 – 215; 9 (tie), Jim Woodward 77-70-70 – 217, Rocky Walcher 76-72-69 – 217 and Mark Fuller 77-68-72 – 217; 12 (tie), Eric Moore 7272-74 – 218, a-Jim Young 73-73-72 – 218, aDerek Smith 75-72-71 – 218, a-Stafford Gray 78-72-68 – 218 and Corbin King 74-72-72 – 218

AMATEUR ARKANSAS SENIOR STROKE PLAY At Eagle Crest GC, Alma (par-71) Sept. 19-21 1, John Vinson 73-72-69 – 214; 2, Joe Bushee 71-74-74 – 219; 3, Mike Hale 73-7474 – 221; 4 (tie), Ken Golden 74-75-74 – 223 and Paul Jensen 79-71-73 – 223; 6, Charles Arrington 68-80-76 – 224; 7, Bruce Edwards 75-75-75 – 225; 8, Jim Thurston 74-75-77 – 226; 9 (tie), Marc Richardson 80-74-74 – 228 and Oscar Taylor 77-71-80 – 228.

Super-Senior: 1, Ralph Williams 72-77-74 – 223; 2, David Hartung 74-75-76 – 225; 3, John Carter 74-76-80 – 230.

ARKANSAS MID-SENIOR At Texarkana CC Aug. 12-13 (Modified Stableford scoring) 25-over: Wes McNulty 19-22 – 41; 2 (tie), Bev Hargraves 18-19 – 37, Michael WhartonPalmer 19-18 – 37 and Luke Bakke 18-19 – 37; 5, Richard Bird 15-19 – 34; 6, Chris Jenkins 13-18 -- 31; 7 (tie), Ron Richard 1614 – 30 and Robert Neighbors 16-14 – 30; 9, Bryon Shumate 12-17 – 29; 10, Scotty Crisco 15-13 -- 28.

40-over: 1, Bev Hargraves 18-19 – 37 (won playoff); 2, Michael Wharton-Palmer 19-18 – 37; 3, Richard Bird 15-19 – 34; 4, Greg Brown 14-17 – 31; 5, Todd Martin 12-18 – 30; 6 (tie), Carter Rickman 14-13 -- 27 and Rob Walters 16-11 – 27; 8 (tie), Bruce Dickey 11-15 – 26 and David Shirey 15-11 – 26; 10, Ben Keeney 12-13 – 25.

ARKANSAS PUBLIC LINKS At Texarkana CC Aug. 12-13 (Modified Stableford scoring0 1, Luke Bakke 18-19 – 37; 2 (tie), Forrest Carvajal 13-18 – 31 and Chris Jenkins 13-18 -31; 4 (tie), Robert Neighbors 16-14 – 30 and Todd Martin 12-18 – 30; 6, Thom Shock 13-10 – 23; 7 (tie), Rick Coatney 15-5 – 20 and Brad Morgason 11-9 – 20.

KANSAS SENIOR MATCH PLAY At Falcon Lakes GC, Basehor Sept. 11-13 Second round Don Kuehn d. Mike Grosdidier 2 and 1, Kevin Handlan d. Mitch Bowen 2-up, Don Cox. d. Alan Boyer 6 and 5, Randy Vautravers d. Randy Apgar 1-up (19), Gary Richter d.

Bob Vidricksen 5 and 4, Fred Rowland d.

Greg Nicolet 3 and 2, Ron Eilers d. David Rhodes 3 and 2, Mark Addington d. Mike Carey 2 and 1.

Quarterfinals Kuehn d. Handlan 3 and 2, Vautravers d.

Cox 8 and 7, Rowland d. Richter 1-up, Addington d. Eilers 1-up.

Semifinals Kuehn d. Vautravers 1-up, Addington d.

Rowland 3 and 2.

Final Kuehn d. Addington 3 and 2.

Consolation final: Andy Smith d. Gary Roles 1-up.

Super senior final: Ron Ragland d. Gary

Adamson 5 and 4.

KANSAS SENIOR AMATEUR At Hillcrest CC, Kansas City Aug. 13-15 1, Kevin Handlan 70-72 – 142; 2, Bob Vidricksen 74-69 – 143; 3, Andy Smith 74-72 – 146; 4, Fred Rowland 72-75 – 147; 5, Don Cox 72-76 – 148; 6 (tie), Gary Olson 75-74 – 149, Jim Seward 76-73 – 149, Tim Jackson 76-73 - 149 and Mark Addington 77-72 – 149; 10 (tie), Randy Apgar 76-74 – 150, Johnny Stevens 76-74 – 150 and Bil Toalson 79-71 – 150.

OKLAHOMA MID-AMATEUR At Oaks CC, Tulsa (par-71) Aug. 28-29 1, Ricky Lutz 68-71 – 139; 2, Andy Lucas 69-70 – 139; 3, Michael Hughett 74-66 -- 140; 4 (tie), Jim Ramage 71-71 – 142, Jon Valuck 70-72 – 142, Brad Christianson 73-69 – 142 and Jim Arnold 71-71 – 142; 8, Mike Alsup 7073 – 143; 9, Charlie Crouse 71-73 – 144; 10, James Reid 73-72 – 145.

OKLAHOMA SENIOR MATCH PLAY At The Territory GC, Duncan Aug. 7-10 Quarterfinals Eric Mueller d. Pat Twobridge 3 and 2, Bob Fouke d. Lynn Watkins 1-up. Bill Jackson d. Roman Johnson 5 and 3, Mike Kedy d.

Murph Mitchell 2 and 1 Semifinals Fouke d. Muller forfeit, Jackson d. Kedy 1up.

Final Fouke d. Jackson 3 and 2.

Tee times: www.PlayTulsa.com

South Lakes 9253 S. Elwood Jenks, America

Since 1960

5501 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, Okla.

918-746-3760 www.SouthLakesGolf.com

38

918 596-8627 Since 1989

www.LaFortuneParkGolf.com SOUTH CENTRAL GOLF

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