Florida Golf Monthly brings you complete coverage of golf news from around the state. Each month, top writers will detail whats happening in each of six regions.
CENTRAL FLORIDA NEWS
Members of Orlando's exclusive Isleworth community ran the gamut of emotions in a matter of days following the 127th British Open, which was played at Royal Birkdale on the western coast of England. Isleworth member and resident Mark O'Meara captured the British Open, defeating Brian Watts in a four-hole playoff. Coupled with O'Meara's triumph at the Masters in April and Lee Janzen's victory at the U.S. Open in June, it made Isleworth three-for-three at the men's majors this year, setting up a possible Isleworth Grand Slam at the PGA.
But three days later, the community was rocked by sad news of the tragic death of Renay Appleby, wife of PGA Tour player and Isleworth resident Stuart Appleby. Renay Appleby, 25, who used to caddie for her husband in his early days as a professional, died from injuries sustained after being struck by a cab at Waterloo Station in London on July 23 shortly before she and Stuart were to board a train to Paris.
"Renay was a really neat person, and she had a great sense of humor," Janzen told The Orlando Sentinel. "I feel so much for Stuart. The PGA Tour is a large family, but a close one. This is really going to hurt."
-D.J. Keith -top-
BAY AREA NEWS
West Florida Next
"Marvelous and humbling,'' Henderson called the experience. He shot 83-80 to miss the cut, but judged the trip a success. &emdash;especially after playing his final 13 holes of the championship at 1-over par.
"What's funny is I didn't feel like I was doing anything differently than I did the first day-and-a-half,'' Henderson said. "Riviera as a facility is a magnificent piece of property for a golf course. What you see is what the course is and it says 'here I am, see what you can do.' And the rough was well documented. When someone says you can take a full swing from a yard off the green just to advance it onto the green, that's right. I found there is not a way to mentally prepare yourself for those conditions. But I found it fascinating.''
Notes: Tampa's Manuel Clifford Wilder has been inducted into the National Black Golfers Hall of Fame in Greensboro, N.C. Wilder, 81, is recognized for work that opened the Tampa Sports Authority's Rogers Park, the first city golf course open to African-Americans. ... Tampa's Urban Junior Golf, which promoted the game to inner-city youth, has been selected by the USGA to receive a "challenge grant,'' to assist in building the program office and teaching complex at the three city-owned courses &emdash; Babe Zaharias, Rocky Point and Rogers Park. ... Longtime Polk Country community activist and avid golfer Bobbie Golden has been named tournament director for the 1999 Nike Lakeland Classic to be played Jan. 14-17 at Grassland CC. ... Jimmy Jones, husband of LPGA player Dawn Coe-Jones, set the men's course record at Tampa Palms, shooting a 63. The score bettered by two the old record also held by Jones.
-Mick Elliot -top-
WEST FLORIDA NEWS
of every golfer, with an
extra 10-yards often making a huge difference. Frank Masyada and Mike Tardif, however, were not golfers when they decided to test their "thermal cycling'' process on golf clubs. Thermal Sports Enhancement Inc., in Largo is the offspring of their business that extends the life of metal parts, including hand tools, engine blocks for race cars, drill bits, surgical instruments, etc.
They got the bright idea that their process might work on golf clubs as well. In trying to find out, they had an independent club tester in San Diego scientifically show the difference between clubs that had been treated and those that had not.
The results showed that the treated clubs hit a ball some 15 to 17-yards farther than the same club that was left alone. Most golfers would think they could qualify for the U.S. Open after such news, but Masyada and Tardif didn't know any better._
"When we only got 15 to 17-yards, we didn't think that it was a big deal,'' Tardif said. "We figured we spent a lot of money and failed.''
Little did they know. . . And now their business has taken off. Golf publications are calling, inquiring about doing stories. Golf professionals are calling, wondering if they can have the process done on their clubs. Investors are calling, wanting to get involved in what potentially could be a big boon to the game.
To try to explain simply: the thermal cycling process involves sophisticated machinery that cools and heats metal. That means metal woods, irons and shafts can be subjected to temperatures that range from 360 degrees below zero to 400 degrees above zero. This causes molecular changes in the material, according to Tardif. The atoms in the metal form a bond that results in improved strength, durability and efficiency.
In order to undergo this process, the clubs must first be professionally taken apart. Masyada and Tardif have PGA professionals who do this work for them, or they ask that clubs be brought to them already disassembled.
The process itself takes some 18 hours, and then the clubs must be put back together and allowed to dry for more than 24 hours. So anybody wanting to get their clubs "frozen'' probably needs to get going early in the week if they want their favorite sticks back for weekend play.
And when the work is done?
You won't see anything. But you'll hear and feel a difference.
"You can hit the ball and know something happened to the club,'' Tardif said. "It sounds totally different.''
And for golfers who hit a lot of balls, especially driving range junkies, the process has an added benefit.
"We just knew that the ball went farther,'' Tardif said. "What we didn't know was that there would be less vibration.
"What the process does is actually expands the sweet spot, while taking the vibration out of the club. That's what puts more energy into the ball.''
The process costs $35 per club, or $26 per club if you have more than 10 done at once. There is an extra $5 per club if it needs to be taken apart. (For more information on Thermal Cycling, call (727) 548-6575.)
-Bob Harig -top-
SOUTHEAST FLORIDA NEWS
-Larry Bush -top-
NORTHEAST FLORIDA NEWS
row, the Northeast
Florida area has dom-inated the leaderboard of the Florida State Golf Association Four-Ball Tournament &emdash; not surprising, since the event has been staged at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass Stadium and Valley Courses.
Sean Pacetti, a native of Palatka and now a St. Augustine resident, and Kyle Williamson of Jacksonville captured the Four-Ball championship with a 36-hole total of 9-under-par 135, a shot better than Michael Erickson of Orlando and Chip Holcombe of Casselberry.
The 1997 Four-Ball champions, Steve Dodson and David Anthony of Jacksonville, were alone in third at 137 and tying for fourth another shot back were Albert Mlynarski and Tyler Smith of Port Orange and Daniel Hunter of Port Orange and Victor Lohman of Ormond Beach.
In all, seven teams from Northeast Florida finished among the top 25. Pacetti, a former Nike Tour player who had regained his amateur status, and Williamson shot a final-round 68 at the Stadium Course to rally from three shots behind first-round leaders Hunter and Lohman at the start of the final round. Interestingly, tournament officials cut the pins for the final round in the exact spots as the pins for the last round of The Players Championship.
Anthony and Dodson made a good run at retaining their title with a final-round 66, after opening with a 71 at the Valley Course. The tournament was close throughout. Twenty-one teams were within five shots of the leader after the first round and 15 teams ended within six shots of the winning total.
Officials of Destination Resorts, which operates the course, closed Matanzas Woods for several weeks to assess the damage, but have recently re-opened. The other Destination Resort Palm Coast courses &emdash; Cypress Knoll, Palm Harbour, Pine Lakes and Grand Haven &emdash; remained open, except during the evacuation. The same went for the private Hammock Dunes course, which borders the ocean and was at a relatively safe distance from the fires.
As a matter of fact, Cypress Knoll head professional Donald Donahue said 11 players were on the course just one hour before the mandatory evacuation order was issued at 9 a.m. July 3. He heard the order was coming and chased the players off the course at around 8 a.m.
"Just goes to show you how serious some golfers are about making that tee time,'' said Donahue. "They were never in danger, because the nearest fire was about five miles away from our course. But the smoke was really bad.''
Donahue and Destination Resorts sales manager Tom Pasha said the only problem they have faced were golfers from out of the area who frequented their courses, but assumed the fires had forced the closing of all the tracks.
"We're open for business, and we never closed four of our five courses,'' said Pasha. And, the Palm Coast courses are in superb shape, considering the lack of rain before the fires. Since precipitation has picked up in later July, they're in even better condition.
The only Daytona Beach area course that was close to any fires was LPGA International. Like the Palm Coast courses, there was no damage to the playing areas of that course.
Speaking of Palm Coast and its future plans under Destination Resorts, the ground-breaking on the second Jack Nicklaus design (he mapped out Grand Haven) will be sometime this fall. And to correct a mistake in a previous issue, resort guests at Palm Coast will not have access to Hammock Dunes.
Splane had back-to-back rounds of 67 on the first day of the tournament, which always begins with a marathon 36 holes in high heat and draining humidity. He closed the next day with a 75, but still won by three shots, over Walter Smith of Gainesville National, and four shots over Richie Bryant of Pablo Creek and Tim Peterson of Selva Marina.
Last January, Splane, a former University of Florida player, won the professional division of the Gate Open. Smith was also the runner-up in that event, but the two have been linked on the same leaderboard numerous times in the past several years, including their collaboration to win the Northern Section Two-Man tournament last year.
Setting up residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, near the Players Club, are Frank Lickliter, Gabriel Hjertstedt and Niclas Fasth. Lickliter has had three top-10 finishes this year, and is 56th on the money list, as of July 20, while Hjertstedt came to prominence last year by winning the B.C. Open.
PGA Tour players who are either natives of north Florida or long-term residents are David Duval, Mark McCumber and Len Mattiace. Transplants in the last several years have been Jim Furyk, Fred Funk, Rocco Mediate, Blaine McCallister, Sandy Lyle, Mark Carnevale and Vijay Singh.
Representing the Senior Tour are Duval's father Bob, Bob Dickson, Calvin Peete, Leonard Thompson, Walter Morgan and Deane Beman; and LPGA players residing in the area are Deb Richard and Nanci Bowen.
The Hooters Tour has played in Jacksonville for the last four years, and returns to the Champions Club at Julington Creek in February.
-Garry Smits -top-
NORTHWEST FLORIDA NEWS
golfers are making
their presence felt this summer.
Pensacola's Wes Pate, son of former U.S. Open champ Jerry Pate, fired 68-71-71&emdash;210 to take the title in the prestigious Press Thorton Future Masters, played at the Dothan, Ala., C.C., an event that draws top junior golfers from around the nation.
Nick Rousey, another Pensacola product, finished 20th at 73-74-72&emdash;219. But then Rousey went on to out duel Pate in successive tournaments. First he fired a sterling 73-73&emdash;146 over the extremely tight and difficult Lost Key Plantation layout (an Arnold Palmer-Ed Seay design) to win the Florida State Big I Junior Championship - a victory that earned him a trip to Oklahoma's famed Oak Tree to compete in the Big I National Finals.
The tandem then teed it up at Shalimar Pointe in the 19th annual Daily News Junior Classic. Where Rousey, jumping out to a six-shot opening-round lead, went on to become the first-ever three-time Overall Boys Champion.
Rousey fired 68-70&emdash;138 while Pate shot 74-69&emdash;143. The duo, paired together in the final round, put on an exciting one-day match, trading birdies (and occasional bogeys) throughout the round - a two-shot swing on the 17th hole giving Pate the edge on the day.
And Destin's Evan Frederick scored a 5th-place finish in the 14-15 Division at PGA National in the 1998 Wittnauer Optimist International Junior Golf Championship. Coming back from a tough opening round, Frederick improved each day, shooting 79-73-71&emdash;223.
Also playing in the Daily News event was Stephen Lietzke - with dad Bruce Lietzke trekking the Shalimar Pointe course both days following his son's progress. Lietzke was paired in the opening round with cousin Jamie Pate, the pair played in the 14-15 Division.
DeFuniak Springs' Shane Supple continued his solid performance on the Canadian PGA Tour, scoring another top-10 finish in the Canadian Masters at Heron Point in Ancaster, Ontario. Supple charged from 13th at the 54-hole mark to finish in sixth with 68-69-71-67&emdash;275.
Stopping by the Emerald Coast to survey progress on Kelly Plantation, the Destin course designed by he and partner Gene Bates was Fred Couples. With two holes abutting the shore of Choctawhatchee Bay - and a number of other holes bordered by lakes and wetland woods - Couples feels that the finished product (due to open in November) will be "Awesome! Especially when the wind blows."
-Ted Raymond -top-
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