Jacksonville Golf News

St. Augustine, Fla – The Jaguar Car Club of North Florida will present the fifth-annual Concours d’Elegance “Legends on the Green” Saturday, April 19 at World Golf Village.  A collection of British cars, featuring Jaguars, will be on display around the Walk of Champions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public.

The car show will feature a Jaguar Club of North America (JCNA) sanctioned Jaguar Concours and is open to all classic, contemporary and exotic British cars.  Registration for participating cars will begin at 8 a.m. and is $35 for the first car and $30 for each additional car.  

Official JCNA judging will begin at 10:30 a.m.  Non-Jaguar and specialty awards, including "Best in Class" and "People's Choice," will be presented after 2 p.m. and official JCNA awards will be announced at the Shriners Children’s Hospital Charity Banquet Saturday evening.

While many of the PGA TOUR brightest stars will pass on this week’s Zurich Open in New Orleans, the Champions Tour’s Ginn Championship at Ginn Hammock Beach in Palm Coast has all hands on deck.

Former Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam, winner of the 1981 Masters, will make his Champions Tour debut and is joined by one of the deepest Champions Tour fields assembled in the past few years. The event will be played on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Ginn Hammock Ocean Course.

Until Gil Morgan withdrew from the event, all 30 of the top-30 money winners from 2007 had signed on to participate in the event. Throw in international stars like Gary Player and Sandy Lyle, who are both making their Ginn Championship debuts, and this tournament exudes an aura of history and success.

“This is something we understandably take a great deal of pride in seeing and something we know golf fans all over the area will take a great deal of enjoyment in seeing,” tournament director John Subers said. “You can count on one hand the number of events that carry a field with such depth and class, and we’re proud the Ginn Championship is one of those events.”

It would have made great theater to see Tiger Woods pass Arnold Palmer on the PGA TOUR’s list for career wins and have the legend and soon-to-be King of the game exchange pleasantries and barbs at the tournament bearing Palmer’s name. Like many of Woods’ milestones, the record arrived earlier than many thought possible.

However, there was one man who believed the hype surrounding Woods from day one.

“This may be a surprise to all of you,” Palmer told the assembled media at a press conference Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I anticipated he would pass that record and I can’t see him doing anything but continuing to pass other people’s records in the future.

The PGA Tour has appointed agronomy veteran Tom Vlach, CGCS, as the superintendent at TPC Sawgrass, replacing Fred Klauk who is retiring after 27 years.

Vlach’s will begin after The Players Championship in May 2008.

"Tom’s proven success hosting PGA Tour events, outstanding leadership skills and commitment to service excellence make him ideally suited for this demanding and high-profile position," said Cal Roth, vice president of agronomy.

Klauk, who will assist in the transition as well as remain active with the tour as a project manager, was instrumental in selecting his replacement. Vlach was previously director of grounds maintenance at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.

He also was assistant superintendent at TPC Sawgrass under Klauk.

Over $85,000 Generated and 48 Scholarships Awarded

They’ve been saving our lives for nearly a century and now the men and women whose job it has been to save us from the water hope you’ll take the risk of hitting a few golf balls into the drink for their cause.

The 10th annual “Fishbait” Thompson Charity Golf Tournament is coming up April 7, 2008 at Hidden Hills Golf Club. The annual Captain’s-Choice format has made it a fun event with numerous individual and team prizes. The proceeds from the event will be split between scholarships to members of the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps and the building fund to make improvements to the station, which has stood guard in the same place since the Corps’ inception.

A passion for golf and giving, and, yes, a love of cigars, wine, and martinis, have over the past four years successfully raised over $170,000 for First Coast charities. The Aromas Charity Golf Tournament, held each year at local premier golf courses such as the TPC Stadium Course, The Slammer and Squire, and The King and Bear, have become one of the First Coast’s “don’t miss” tournaments in recent years.

Jax Native New Director of THE PLAYERS

Not many of us can say we have the picture that defines our career path any better than the largest photo on the wall in Ron Cross’ office at the TPC Sawgrass. The focal point of the well-known picture is Jerry Pate diving into the pond off the 18th green after winning the 1982 PLAYERS Championship contested for the first time at the controversial Pete Dye design in Ponte Vedra.

PALM COAST, FL – Ginn Hammock Beach Resort has created the Golf Academy at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort, an instructional golf school, that marries its oceanfront courses, instructional facilities and teaching professionals with personalized, individual attention to achieve a golf experience where golfers of all levels can improve their game and, at the same time, have fun.

The Golf Academy at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort, opened Dec. 1, 2007, will be available in two-day, three-day and five-day programs. A customized half-day short game program will also be offered for resort guests, as well as corporate groups. In addition to being able to offer the amenities of a world-class resort packaging with accommodations, breakfast daily, instruction and afternoon play, the Golf Academy at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort guarantees a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio.

Champions Tour Event Returns to Hammock Beach in March

Off the stunning success of the inaugural Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach, organizers of the Champions Tour event have donated $250,000 to area charities and announced the tourney will return, with almost no changes, to the Ocean Course at Hammock Beach March 24-30, 2008.

The 2007 Ginn Championship was announced only 10 months before it was played and then had to be moved from the Tom Watson-designed Conservatory at Hammock Beach just 60 days before the first tee ball was hit, paid out the second largest non-major purse on the Champions Tour, 2.5-million dollars, and still raised an astonishing quarter of a million dollars for Flagler County charities, including $95,000 for the Florida Hospital Memorial Foundation and the Stuart F. Meyer Hospice House.

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL - The Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, located within the lush 6,300-acre World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, is offering a special "Stay & Play Package" in celebration of the near-completion of its extensive $10 million property-wide renovation.

Through January 15, 2008, you can take advantage of this package, which includes a round of golf-for-two on its renowned King & Bear championship golf course, or its popular Slammer & Squire championship course. The package also includes accommodations, breakfast-for-two daily, and range balls, according to Mark Schwantner, general manager of the award-winning resort.

Golfers will have a tough time deciding which of the two courses to choose. King & Bear is the only course in the world designed jointly by Arnold Palmer ("The King") and Jack "The Bear" Nicklaus. This picturesque 7,279-yard course features loblolly pines and open meadows on the front nine, impressive 200-year-old oak trees throughout the back nine, and lakes edged with large coquina rocks.