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Pro-Am to tee off Friday
Published 7/30/2009 in Pro-Am
By BRETT MARSHALL
Each of the past 29 years, when the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am is ready to tee off, some of the country's best rising golf stars arrive in Garden City to test their skills at The Golf Club at Southwind and Buffalo Dunes Golf Course.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Bryan Novoa, San Antonio, celebrates sinking a birdie putt on Southwind's No. 18 to win the 2003 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am title by one stroke.
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The Telegram — An aerial view of Southwind Country Club in 1980, its first full year open. Pictured is the eighth green and ninth hole.
The courses have highly regarded reputations — Southwind being voted the No. 9 top course in Kansas by Golf Digest magazine in 2007, and Buffalo Dunes chosen as the No. 1 municipal course in Kansas by the same magazine in its upcoming August issue.
One of the players who is making his first appearance in the Pro-Am, which has more than $80,000 in prize money, is Nathan Camacho of San Antonio. Camacho was chipping and putting Tuesday at Buffalo Dunes, practicing for the 30th anniversary event that begins Friday.
"I just played (Buffalo Dunes) and I am amazed that this is a municipal golf course and how good it is," Camacho said. "You put this golf course in San Antonio and it stands up with any of the public courses they have."
Through the years, the Pro-Am, celebrating its 30th anniversary has donated more than $800,000 to the St. Catherine Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit, enabling the hospital to expand its staff, facilities and purchase new equipment to provide critical care for pre-mature babies born in this area.
The field, as usual, has plenty of talent. Despite 2008 champion Gary Woodland, who won in a three-way playoff last year against Nathan Lashley and Steve Gotsche, isn't returning (he earned his PGA Tour card last fall), both Lashley and Gotsche are back. Gotsche has twice been runner-up since he began playing in the event more than two decades ago.
Three former champions return to vie for the $17,500 first place check when the 54-hole event concludes Sunday at The Golf Club at Southwind. Jesse Schulte of Hutchinson, captured the crown in 2007, Bryan Novoa nabbed the 2004 title and Hutchinson's Matt Seitz won the third Pro-Am back in 1982 when it was played at Dodge City Country Club. Novoa tied for third in Wednesday's Garden City Telegram/Fry Eye Associates Ladies Shootout at Southwind with a three-under-par 68.
In addition, seven others who finished among the top 15 return.
The group includes fourth place finisher Scott Petersen of Parker, Colo., Mike Troyer of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Kenny Coakley of Bluffton, S.C., all of whom tied for sixth; Jason Allen of Pueblo West, Colo. and Michael Baird of Castle Rock, Colo., who tied for 11th and Michael Zaremba of Pueblo West and Clay Ogden of Farmington, Utah, who shared 14th place in 2008.
Ben Portie, who was a runner-up finisher in 2007 to Schulte, is back and the field includes rookie pro Drew Lethem of Camdenton, Mo., who won the 2006 Kansas Amateur Championship when it was played at The Golf Club at Southwind. Veteran Clay Devers of Lake Quivira also returns. Devers won three consecutive Kansas Amateur championships from 1988-1990, including his final one at Southwind. He now plays regularly on the Malaysian Tour.
"This is always one of my favorite places to come and play," Devers said. "There's two terrific golf courses and the field is always tough. The experience of playing in the wind is always a big help. I want to win this tournament and recently I've been playing pretty well. We'll just have to see how it goes."
Ryan Murphy, the 2004 Pro-Am champion from Austin, Texas, withdrew from the tournament within the last week.
Major players: The list of former Pro-Am contestants who have won one of golf's four major championships grew two weeks ago when Stewart Cink captured the British Open at Turnberry, Scotland. Cink played in the Pro-Am in 1995 and tied for fifth with a 206.
Lee Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open champion (1993, 1998) played in 1989 and also tied for fifth with a 208.
Tom Weiskopf played in the 1983 Pro-Am while he was winding down his PGA Tour playing days and the 1973 British Open champion had a 220 total and tied for 21st.
Steve Jones won the first of his two consecutive Pro-Am titles that year and would go on to capture the 1996 U.S. Open.
Three-time Pro-Am champion Bruce Vaughan put his name on a major trophy in 2008 when he won the Senior British Open.
Bob Tway competed in the early 1980s before going on to win the 1986 PGA Championship.
Jim Furyk played in the 1992 Pro-Am and 10 years later won the U.S. Open in 2002. Furyk, though, missed the cut here when he shot 72-77—149.
Check out The Telegram's full guide to the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am at GCTelegram.com/Pro-Am.
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