Keep on Keepin’ On

Last week’s Nationwide tournament was crazy. 168 players, 168 amateurs, three courses: craziness. It was a fun week with a lot going on but I definitely didn’t play my best. Simply put, I didn’t give myself enough birdie chances.

On a brighter note; I found out today that I am receiving a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s Nationwide event at TPC Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, NC. The guys at 1 Degree Sports Management were instrumental in getting my name out there and our persistence paid off. I played TPC Wakefield quite a bit my first few years at Duke but it has obviously been a little while. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the opportunity and having a great week. I also believe there is a decent chance that I get into the Nationwide tournament the following week in Mexico.

Unfortunately, my family is celebrating my cousin’s graduation (from a university that shall not be mentioned) with a big family reunion on the Outer Banks at the same time as all of this. Hopefully I’ll still get a few spectators out there. Missing out on awesome family functions because of school or golf is nothing new to me but it’s never fun. I still hear about the 1996 Olympics and Yellowstone National Park… apparently those were the “best trips ever.”

Another Opportunity

I’m looking forward to teeing it up in this week’s Nationwide Tour event in Greenville, South Carolina. It’s the BMW Charity Pro-Am, which is like the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am. There are 168 professionals competing against each other, meanwhile, each professional has an amateur partner and they compete as a team. I’m still not exactly sure what the format of the pro-am is so hopefully that will be explained soon. We play three different courses, there’s a cut after the third round with the final round being completed on Sunday at the host course (Thornblade).

Some facts about the tournament:
> Last year’s event raised $652,070 for charity.
> In 2004, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player participated in the Pro-Am
> Each year, more than 2,500 hotel rooms are booked in the area for the tournament
> More than 1,400 volunteers donate their time to help run the event
> The Pro-Am generates about $5 million to the local economy
> This year’s celebrities include:
– Anthony Anderson (actor, Law and Order)
– Steve Azar (country music artist)
– Andy Buckley (actor, The Office)
– Mark Bryan (Hootie and the Blowfish lead guitarist)
– Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts guitarist)
– Dean Felber (Hootie and the Blowfish guitarist)
– Josh Kelley (musician)
– Cheech Marin (actor/comedian, “Cheech and Chong”)
– Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts lead guitarist)
– Reggie Smith (retired MLB All-Star)
– Holly Sonders (host of Golf Channel’s Morning Drive)
– Gary Valentine (actor, King of Queens)
– And several others…

The Golf Channel will be providing live coverage:
THURSDAY (5/17): 12:30-2:30pm/est
FRIDAY (5/18): 12:30-2:30pm/est
SATURDAY (5/19): 1:00-3:00pm/est
SUNDAY (5/20): 2:00-4:00pm/est

Hopefully I’ll do something cool to get a little air time. Anyway, I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next few days in order to master these three courses. They’ve gotten a lot of rain here the past few days so they are all playing very soft. It should be a busy and fun tournament with all kinds of activities throughout the week. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of another opportunity…
————–
BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation
Thursday May 17 – Sunday May 20, 2012
Thornblade Club (host course) · Greer, South Carolina

Purse: $600,000 Winning Share: $108,000 http://www.bmwcharitygolf.com