You probably thought we here in Atlanta were done with professional golf for the year. We’ve been through The Masters, the final AT&T Classic and THE TOUR Championship. That’s it – right?
Not so fast. Coming to town next week, Oct. 17-19, at Chateau Elan in Braselton is the Duramed Invitational. This is a limited field event with 68 of the top Futures Tour players, plus two local amateurs. If you’re not familiar with the Duramed Futures Tour, it is the Nationwide Tour of the LPGA. For a number of years, the Futures Tour has been the intermediate step between collegiate and national amateur level women’s golf and the LPGA Tour. Names like Karrie Webb, Grace Park, Christina Kim, Laura Davies, Angela Stanford and even Lorena Ochoa all paid their dues on the Duramed Futures Tour.
This year’s crop of Futures Tour stars will be stepping onto the LPGA Tour with a lot of momentum and confidence. The top names on the 2008 money list, Vicky Hurst and Mindy Kim, collected multiple wins and are ready to make the next step, and will be playing the Chateau Course next week. The top 10 on the money list receive Tour cards for 2009. Seven of those 10 will be at Chateau Elan gunning for a piece of the $150,000 purse.
Three local golfers will be in the field. Jean Reynolds from Newnan earned her spot through her play this year on the Futures Tour. Amateurs Anna Rogers from Hartwell and Kendall Wright from Suwanee received special invitations.
If you follow The Big Break series on The Golf Channel, Kim Welch (winner of Big Break Ka’anipali and top 10 on this year’s money list), Ashley Prange (winner of Big Break V) and Kristina Tucker (also of Big Break V fame) will be in the field.
I know many of you are asking yourselves why you should make a trip to Braselton to watch the Futures Tour women play. I’m glad you asked. The answer is very simple: It’s because they are good. They are better than 98 percent of us will ever be and we might actually pick something up for our own games. This will be a chance to walk close to players who regularly shoot around and under par, and understand how to golf their ball around in as few strokes as possible. If you have kids, especially daughters who like golf, take them. Let them see some up-and-coming pros up close and personal.
Some of you are thinking, “Can I play a round with them?” Again, glad you asked. There is a Pro-Am on Thursday, Oct. 16. The cost for a foursome is $2,500, much easier than the $10,000 price tag on other tours’ Pro-Ams. If you are interested in a Pro-Am spot, contact Brian Crotty at BrianCrotty@Ireland.com. There is also a need for volunteers to help with the tournament. Tickets are very reasonable; a day ticket is $10, but a three-day pass is just $15. For more information, visit DuramedInvitational.com.
NOLL CAPTURES TITLE
Congratulations to David Noll of Dalton, who captured his second Atlanta Amateur Match Play title, contested at the Rivermont Golf and Country Club, defeating Augusta State University men’s golf head coach Josh Gregory, 2-up. The final went all 18 holes before Noll could close out Gregory with a par on the last hole.
Capps can be reached at onthegreen@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
