Sept. 30, 2017
Reported by Scott Pilgrim:
The inaugural North Texas Hickory Open was a big ole Texas win this past weekend. Hosts Johnny Beach and I organized the event at the Old Course at Firewheel (Garland, Texas) with 32 participants in four divisions: Open, Senior, Statesman, and a two-person scramble. Former PGA Tour and Senior Tour player Rives McBee was a fabulous keynote speaker.
The outing was also designed as a charity event to support The HOPE Clinic and Garland Sports Hall of Fame. We are very grateful to the many generous sponsors. Thanks to them, we raised $1,500 for the two charities.
The whole thing kicked off on Thursday evening with 18-hole putting tournament that was won by Doug Shackelford. His accuracy with the flat blade earned him a beautiful matted/framed Bart Forbes print of a hickory player.
No one went hungry this weekend. We served up breakfasts, lunches, and all-you-can-eat fajita and BBQ dinners on both tournament days.
As for the golf, well, a total of 24 awards were handed out for gross/net/scramble scores. These are listed below.
Bill Reed is presented with the Scott Pilgrim Award in recognition of his many efforts and achievements on behalf of hickory golf.
The awards dinner ended with a special presentation of the “Scott Pilgrim” award (created and purchased by Gary Krupkin) to honor the spirit, passion, and ambassadorship of the hickory game. I very proudly awarded this beautiful crystal to Bill Reed who received a standing ovation. Bill was clearly very moved. No one deserves the honor more than he.
The winners were:
Open Division and Tournament Champion – Jeremy Wright, left, with tournament host Scott Pilgrim. Jeremy had a two-day total of 147. In addition to a beautiful trophy, he also received a framed signed and numbered print of Bobby Jones at Interlachen.
Senior Division winner was Ken Jackson, who tied with Richard Brown at 154. Richard conceded the playoff to Ken and accepted low net. Johnny Beach presented the trophy.
Statesman Division winner was John Berggren whose two-day total was 162. John had to leave early before we could get a photo!
Scramble team of Rives McBee, left, and Doug Shackelford receive their awards from Johnny Beach.
In closing, I want to share this personal note I received from Rives McBee who sums up what all of us felt about this inaugural event and what we hope will be come an annual fixture on hickory golf’s calendar.
Scott: I want to personally thank you for a magnificent job you and Johnny Beach did in running the NTH Open. It was done in a very professional manner and I am so glad I was able to participate. The way you handled the event was as good as any I have ever played in and you can be proud to know that everyone noticed and appreciated your efforts, The prizes were above and beyond any expectations. Beautiful trophies that all could be proud to win and put in their trophy case. I would be out of place if I did not mention Johnny’s wife and the work she did. Behind every great man is an even greater woman!! She did yeoman’s work and it showed. I know there were others that pitched in to make the event run so well but I do not have their names so you will just have to pass on my praise to them also.
It will be hard to match what you folks did this year but I hope that next year’s event is run as well so that this event will be an event that ALL hickory players look forward to participating in again. You’ll have set a benchmark to follow and try to compare in the future tournaments and if they are as successful you will have been the founders that laid out the foundation with pride !!!
Thank you again for a job very well done my friend !!!!
Rives McBee
P.S. I love my street sign picture!!! Will have to make a few copies for my daughters and grandchildren!!!