A Golfer By Default … and Loving It

I started playing golf in 1974 and, believe me, for those of you who have ever played alongside me, you know I do mean "playing." I am not a serious golfer, but I am competitive. And there is a difference!

Having just completed an eight-year term as Mayor of the city of San Leandro, I can tell you that I've played so many foursomes of golf for nonprofit, shotgun formats that I haven't posted a real score in many years.

My home course is the San Leandro Monarch Bay Golf Club, home of British Open Champ Tony Lema and my own personal hero, LPGA champ and native San Leandran Pat Hurst. We're also blessed in the East Bay to claim one of the newest LPGA champs, Paula Creamer from Pleasanton. And in San Leandro we are growing new champions in this great sport. I'm particularly watching a young woman I met while I was mayor and she was in her teens at San Leandro High, Christina Corpus, now at San Jose State on a golf scholarship.

Playing for fun and helping raise money is indeed a worthy cause. Never mind that one also gets a great day off from work with friends and fellow golfers, but raising money for local charities always trumps a less than stellar game of golf. There's no such thing as a bad day on the golf course!

Speaking of nonprofit, fundraising golf tournaments, it dawned on me that there's a host of them around the Bay Area and if I could find out where they are, maybe I could boost my playing time and manage to play almost the whole year … then I wouldn't have to work for fun! So I am setting out on a journey to identify them.

So I challenge you, dear reader. I know that almost every chamber of commerce, local nonprofit organization, youth group, high school sports team, and just plain old "let's-have-fun" group plans golf tournaments annually to raise money. We've all been there; we look around and make sure we're not stepping on someone else's date and then we start our planning. At least in my area, we've managed to plan our events without interfering with other organizations. So why don't you send me your tournament information and we will publish it. Who knows? Maybe you'll get new players and sponsors from around the Bay Area who may have a particular interest in either your worthy cause or the golf course you're offering an opportunity to play on.

I'll start us off with an interesting golf opportunity to watch and play in this summer which, if successful, will give us bragging rights across the Bay Area. My good friend, John McCarthy, is with the California Golf Tour, a mini-tour for professional golfers, and he is producing the Bay Area Golf Challenge.

The CGT will stage major events for Bay Area golf fans this summer. There is the 7th annual San Francisco Open at Harding Park Golf Course on July 30-August 2 and the 2nd annual Oakland Open at the Metropolitan Golf Course on August 6-9. The events are open to professional golfers and each event will have a purse of $100,000.

The interesting element is that there will be a cash bonus given to the professional player who wins both events. The amount of the bonus is still in question but the tour organizers are hoping that the number will be six figures.

And here's where the "regular" golfer comes in and always lures me-there will be an affordable Pro-Am at each event that will raise money to benefit junior golf in both cities. Information regarding the Pro-Ams can be obtained by calling (760) 564-3570. Each Pro-Am will be played on the Monday prior to the open championship, July 30, in San Francisco, and August 6, in Oakland.

The CGT has been providing tournaments for amateur and professional players since 1987. Many of the top players now on the PGA Tour used the CGT as a stepping stone to further their golf careers, including former Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman, Kirk Triplett, Duffy Waldorf, Scott McCarron, Kevin Sutherland and Aaron Oberholser, who won the San Francisco Open in 2000.

Both cities had PGA Tour events in the past starting with the Lucky International played at Harding Park in the 1960's. Only recently has the Tour had an event in the Bay Area, when the American Express World Championship was played at Harding in 2005. Oakland has not had an official Tour event since the late 1940's when golf legends Ben Hogan and Sam Snead played the Oakland Open at Sequoyah Country Club.

I might mention, however, that the CGT also holds the San Leandro Open annually, which several years ago was won by Andy Miller, son of Johnny Miller, and so the legends continue for my award-winning city.

The CGT is looking for companies that might want to offer sponsorships at either of the open events. The main benefactors of the events will be the junior golf programs. For information, call the CGT office at 760-564-3570.

So as you can see we're off to a great start. Remember to send me your information early for posting. Write to me at mayoryoung@yahoo.com or call (510) 507-3041.

Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.
— Arnold Palmer