The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Marshall: Community, area pride displayed at Pro-Am
Published 7/28/2009 in Pro-Am
I have dim memories of the 1980 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am played in Liberal that first year as I was a mere sports writer for The Hutchinson News. I don't really remember if we gave it much coverage since it was several hours away and didn't have any big-time names competing (at least that is what we thought).
If memory serves me, I do remember Salina native Bryan Norton turning professional and competing in the Pro-Am in the mid 1980s. He would win the Pro-Am in 1986, becoming the third Kansan in the first seven years of the event to capture the title.
In the intervening years of 1985-1992 I was the executive director of the Kansas Golf Association and we made our annual pilgrammage to Garden City to lend an assist to the Pro-Am Committee, handling all the starting duties, rules responsibilities, course marking and set-up of tee and hole locations (we don't call them pin placements in the language of golf).
I remember one year that Bill Knox from Salina was president of the KGA and he flew to Topeka in his small four-seater plane and picked me up so we can make the trip easier and quicker to the western fringe of the state. I sure liked that kind of drive. I recall when we were between Great Bend and Garden City we could see storm clouds looming to the southwest, so Bill, being the expert pilot he was, headed further north to escape the impending thunder, lightning and rain. I was glad for that decision.
We landed safely at the Garden City Regional Airport and boy did it feel good to have my feet back on the ground. Flying across Kansas at low altitude for the first time was quite an experience I haven't forgotten.
Through the years of coming to Garden City, I simply remember the hospitality that I had. I think it is second to none. Returning to western Kansas just over a year ago, that same thought was re-emphasized when I was able to reconnect with many longtime friends from both Garden City and the surrounding area. It helps to have grown up in Syracuse I guess.
I've always told people from other states where I visit or have lived the people out here are the friendliest and most loyal you can find anywhere. I still believe that. The Southwest Kansas Pro-Am is a great example.
While other tournaments of similar nature went by the wayside with the advent of the then Nike Tour and now Nationwide Tour, the Pro-Am simply has remained alive and well. This year, the event turns 30 and it has matured into one of the finest Pro-Ams you can find anywhere.
Fulfilling the vision of Liberal's Kent Colvin, Garden City's Paul Dart, Dodge City's Larry Burkett and Liberal Country Club pro Sam Cobb, the Pro-Am has provided a big-time event that allows amateurs to play with up-and-coming professionals. And it has provided the springboard for many pros who went on to make a name for themselves.
Here's a sampling — 1983-84 champion Steve Jones became the 1996 U.S. Open champion at Oakland Hills, Mich. (I served as a rules official and was able to talk to Steve about the Pro-Am following his triumph); Lee Janzen tied for fifth at the Pro-Am in 1989 and four years later won a U.S. Open of his own at Baltusrol in New Jersey and would claim a second Open crown in 1998 at Olympic Club in San Francisco. In 1983, former British Open champion Tom Weiskopf came to play because he was familiar with pheasant hunting and had friends here in the area. Jim Furyk made his claim to fame on the big stage in 2002 by winning the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields in Chicago.
A year ago, three-time Pro-Am champion Bruce Vaughan of Hutchinson won his first big event on the Champions Tour by claiming the Senior British Open and then Stewart Cink, who tied for fifth in 1995, just more than a week ago won the British Open at Turnberry, Scotland.
The Pro-Am has raised around $850,000 over its 26 years of having St. Catherine Hospital as its lone beneficiary. It has brought major procurement of life-saving equipment for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. It has allowed more than 3,000 babies to come through the Unit and live healthy lives. It has seen the staff expand from one doctor and a nurse to four doctors and seven nurses with a seven-bed capacity.
It has brought community and area sponsors together for a common cause. For that, we should be grateful to those early visionaries who were brave enough to put up the dollars to get the Pro-Am started and convinced their friends to do the same. We celebrate 30 years of the Pro-Am, but we celebrate it as a community and as southwest Kansas family. Enjoy the week.
Sports Editor Brett Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@gctelegram.com. His continuing coverage of the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am can be found on The Press Box blog at SWKTalk.com/thepressbox.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
