Sept. 24, 2017, Omaha, Neb., Omaha Country Club
The 2017 Champion, Brian Frevert, shot a spectacular 75 on a windy, rainy day. Dave Dunigan won the Senior Division. Click here for a PDF of results and photos.
The NEHGA Hall of Fame dinner inducted Sam Reynolds and Golf Digest Top-50 golf instructor Gary Wiren, who gave a clinic prior to the tournament. At dinner, Gary talked about his career and about growing up in South Omaha. He is an encyclopedic wizard, whose knowledge about the game and the great players he had the opportunity to play with is a joy to hear. Such as the following about Sam Reynolds:
“Sam Reynolds was a Nebraska Amateur Champ in 1912, 1914, 1916, 1919, 1922, 1923 and 1926,” Wiren said. “He served in the U.S. Congress, was president of the Omaha Country Club, and died at age 97 in 1988. The unbelievable story is that Sam was a friend of my dad. They played cards together. One day he brought to my father a very old wooden shaft driver that he told my dad to give to me, a fledging junior golfer. It was my first wooden shaft club and now, some 2,000-plus clubs later, we go into this Hall of Fame together. Just part of the Divine plan.”
In a practice round on the final hole, with a hickory wood, Gary outdrove all of his playing partners, including the “Tiger Woods” of hickory golf, Randy Jensen.
We had a full field of players – 24, the max allowed for an outing like ours on the OCC – and a record number of guests at the Hall of Fame Dinner.
Barb Fulbright was our first women participant and we hope many more will join her in the future for our major Nebraska hickory event.