By Bruce Meadows
SSU tournament features good cause, good course
Circle Friday, Aug. 31 on your calendar if you are (1) eager to play one of the best golf courses in the area, and (2) if you like the idea of supporting the continually improving golf programs at Sonoma State University.
The ninth annual SSU Men’s and Women’s Alumni/Scholarship Tournament is on that date and the 18-hole affair will be held at historic Sonoma Golf Club, a classic course built in 1928. Sonoma was purchased in 2014 by Escalante Golf of Fort Worth, Texas.
If you’ve never played there, you’ve missed a great golfing experience. But because the course is private and very exclusive, getting on Sonoma Golf Club can be problematical.
But not if you sign up to play in the SSU event, where the $250 entry fee includes green fees, range balls, cart, contests, awards and prize, after-round refreshments, special edition SSU golf gear and a $100 Nike Pro Shop voucher.
The schedule calls for registration at 11 a.m., a shotgun start at 1 p.m. and post-round activities about 5:30 p.m. The format will be two best balls of fivesomes, with an SSU golf team member the fifth player in each group.
The event is geared towards “fulfilling the commitment of $40,000 to subsidize SSU golf student-athletes’ education.”
Register online or print out a registration form and mail it to Sonoma State University Box Office, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA, 94928.
Go to sonomaseawolves.com/scholarshiptournament to fill out and submit the registration form.
You can sign up for the tournament only, or sign up as an after-round dinner guest for $25. SSU is also seeking sponsors, including $125 tee sponsors. Mulligans can be purchased for $25 each.
For additional information, contact SSU golf coach Val Verhunce at 707-799-0712 or email val.verhunce@sonoma.edu
Frys.com Open coming to Silverado
The PGA Tour returns to Silverado Resort in Napa in October when the Frys.com Open is played over four days Oct. 15-18.
A lot can happen between now and then — like missing the cut in the British Open — but Tiger Woods has indicated he may play a fall event for the first time as part of the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule when if enters the Frys.com Open, the first tournament of the 2015-16 season.
Woods hasn’t formally committed to the tournament, but ESPN reported that he will make good on a commitment to commissioner Tim Finchem to play the event after skipping it in 2012 to take part in an exhibition in Turkey.
There is also a chance Rory McElroy, recovering from an injury, who has already committed, as well as Justin Rose, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan and Charl Schwartzel will participate.
The PGA Tour requires members to get a release to play in events that conflict. In exchange for getting to play in Turkey, eight players were asked to play the Frys.com tournament once over the following three years — with 2015 being the last year. Kuchar, Mahan and Westwood have already done that.
In 2013-14, the PGA Tour went to a wraparound season with the events in the fall counting toward the FedEx Cup points race.
Did you know???
— The largest bunker in the world is Hell’s Half Acre on the 585-yard No. 7 hole of the Pine Valley Course in New Jersey.
— Tiger Woods recorded his first ace when he was 8 years old.
— Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 until 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn’t waste time while preparing for an English invasion.
— The term “birdie” allegedly comes from an American named Ab Smith. While playing in 1899, Smith hit what he called “a bird of a shot” and the term apparently stuck. Believe it or not!
— If friends or relatives claim you don’t get much exercise playing golf, tell them that according to the website ShapeFit, a typical 190-pound golfer will burn 431 calories per hour, assuming he or she is walking instead of riding a golf cart. It would also make sense that the more times you swing the club, the more calories you burn off, right ?
Schmuhl does it again
Windsor head golf pro Jason Schmuhl has been playing well this year, and added another notch to his belt by winning the pro portion of the Baywood Pro-Am in Arcata last weekend, carding rounds of 66-70–136 to post his 8-under-par victory.
Windsor recently held its two-day Wine Country Amateur with Graham Beard edged Nick Daniels by a stroke in the championship flight with scores of 75-71 compared to Daniels’ 72-75. Todd Millard (77-74) took third.
B’nai Israel tournament at Foxtail
The B’nai Israel Jewish Center will hold its seventh annual tournament Sunday, Aug. 30, a fundraiser for education and service programs for the B’nai Israel Jewish Community Center in Petaluma, at Foxtail North in Rohnert Park.
Entry fee is $125 and is tax-deductible, with registration at 11:30 a.m. and a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. with dinner and silent auction at 5:30 p.m. Entry fee includes golf, cart, driving range coupon, gift bag and dinner. You can attend the dinner only for $30. Hole sponsors are also being sought.
Night golf at Vintners Golf Club
Night golf will again be offered at Vintner’s Golf Club in Yountville Friday, July 31. The $40 cost includes pizza, beer, a warm-up bucket of balls, three lighted golf balls and prizes.
Sign up as soon as possible. Call 944-1992 or go to www.vintnersgolfclub.com
Googie & Friends Tournament Aug. 10
The 11th annual Googie & Friends Fundaiser Tournament is Monday, Aug. 10 at Metropolitan Golf Links in Oakland.
KNBR’s Mitch Juricich of Hooked on Golf will emcee the fundraiser, which benefits five Oakland-based youth golf organizations.
Entry fee is $600 per foursome, $175 per player and includes golf, shared cart, range balls, goodie bag, tee prizes, lunch and dinner. Entry deadline Aug. 1.
For questions about the tournament or sponsorship, contact Gary Carls at g.carls@att.net
Kids and golf
GolfForHer.com recently posted a list of 10 reasons kids should play golf.
The list included enjoy the outdoors, develop lifelong relationships, learn to practice personal responsibility, spend time in a safe environment, practice to manage your emotions, learn to appreciate diversity, prepare for your future as an adult in the work force, learn proper etiquette, spend time with family and gain physical health and wellness in life.
That reminds me of an email I got from Mark Croft of the Croft Golf Academy in Yuma, Ariz..
“I had a junior golfer today that on the last hole of our event hit his tee shot out of bounds. It was quite close to being in bounds but clearly out. As we surveyed the lie I told him he would have to go back to the tee and play another ball. Back to the tee we go and he hits that shot out of bounds.
“I asked, do you have another ball? He replied no. So we go back to where his bag is in the fairway so he can get another ball. He grabs a ball and gets back into the cart with his driver, tears running down his face.
“Embarrassed, feeling failure and ready to hide he says to me ‘I am done.’ I responded with ‘oh no, we have just begun. You go get your 7 iron and we are going back to the tee.’
“ He looks at me with a resolve that says failure. I tell him that he plays his 7 iron to the middle of the fairway and then to play his 7 iron again. A short shot to the green and a 2 putt for a 9.
“At this point the tears are still running but he plays a great shot from the tee and another great shot from the fairway where he has a easy chip to the green. He misses the green and chips on, holes out the ball with 2 putts for a 10.
“At the score table he is still shaken and dejected. I tell him and the other juniors that were in his foursome that they all learned a great lesson: Anybody can quit anytime they want to. Quitting is easy. The world is full of quitters, but to finish in the sight of adversity is the greatest compliment ever to ones character, When you finish, you’re done with that experience, but if you don’t finish and quit, that experience will haunt you forever.
“I love golf and I love what it teaches our youth,” concluded Mark.
Do you have any similar experiences with kids or any golfer you’d like to share? Send them to me at bmeadows4sports@aol.com
Let’s hear from you
We are always pleased to get golf-related items from pro and amateur golfers, something you feel might be worthwhile 
sharing. Maybe a funny or significant thing that happened to you on the golf course. And if you have and event or activity coming up you want to publicize, let us know.
Also, if you have any news about local players who are doing well at the collegiate level, let us know.
And finally, we are always looking for sponsors for GOLF 707 on ysn365.com. We’d love to hear what you have to say.
GOLF 707: Summer Tournament Season
