Bowling Green - The largest weekend event ever
By PDGA Marshal, Terry Miller
A record number 559 participants found their way to Kentucky this past weekend for the Bowling Green Amateur Championships. Many competitors bill this event as a ‘mini’ Am Worlds because of the variety of courses and enormous field sizes. 8 different pools made up the 10 divisions. Pools A, B, C, & D played courses at Hobson, Lovers Lane, White, and Kereiakes while pools E, F, G, and H played Griffin, Franklin, Miller, and Edmonson County.
Friday night started the weekend off right with a very smooth check in and registration just down the road from the host hotel. Nearly 100 people were lined up an hour ahead of time just to get in and grab their awesome player’s package. The staff took over 75 additional entrants on Friday night while the PDGA was onsite to help with new member sign ups and membership renewals. By 8:00 PM nearly every competitor was checked in and ready for the weekend ahead of them.
Saturday morning’s player meeting was standing room only with everyone anxiously waiting to find out which pool they were in. As scheduled, the first round started promptly at 10:00AM for all pools. Saturday’s beautiful weather conditions consisted of 75 and sunny and that lead to a full day of golf with the evening activities starting shortly thereafter.
Players, friends, and families came back to the Knights of Columbus for some great evening entertainment. Everyone was able to enjoy the live music of the Ernie Small Blues Band while rummaging for discs, apparel, and accessories at the player’s party. Pizza and wings were provided throughout the night. Everyone also got to see how they ranked up against their pool while the scores were on display around the building.
With the daylight savings time change Saturday night many people found that the 8:00 AM Sunday morning tee time came pretty quickly. Unfortunately the weather forecast was not calling for another beautiful day but instead isolated thunderstorms. In fact, the G pool did not tee off until 9 AM because inclement weather hit that area first. A few of the other pools experienced short delays due to lightning. However, the brief delay and the early start still allowed for everyone to get both rounds of golf plus the finals.
The advanced masters were the first to go off in the finals at White Park. All finals competitors played the front nine holes starting on hole four and ending on hole three. Michael Frame broke the tie for first and pulled ahead by shooting a 29. Drew Ziegler went stroke for stroke with Wil Ennis during the finals but that was not enough and Wil brought home the title. Tennessee’s Jenny Garland made her debut in the Advanced Women division after winning Intermediate women at the Women’s Nationals last year. She jumped ahead of the field Saturday afternoon and that momentum carried her through to a victory on Sunday afternoon.
Congratulations to all of the other divisional winners which include: Ron Put-Advanced Grandmasters, Richard Tuttle-Advanced Senior Grandmasters, Gary Camp-Intermediate, Michelle Frazer-Intermediate Women, Casey Allen-Junior under 19, James Huber-Junior under 16, and Robert Schroeder Jr-Junior under 13.
Tournament Director, Larry Bledsoe, and the entire staff at the Bowling Green Amateur Championships put on a phenomenal event with an incredible amount of hard work, patience, and dedication. Great courses, awesome player’s packs, additional entertainment, and knowledgeable staff really make this a ‘must play’ stop on everyone’s tour. Be sure to be in Bowling Green next year.