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Winner of local golf tourney doing well
To the editor:
Do you know what Blytheville and White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., have in common?
What about the Thunder Bayou Hooters Classic and last week's Greenbrier PGA Classic?
Give up?
The winner of the PGA golf tournament, $1,098,000.00, was Ted Potter Jr. -- the same Ted Potter who played in the Thunder Bayou Classic in 2006. He not only played in that tournament, he set a course scoring record with a round of 62. The low round score still stands; although shared with two other golfers. His signed score card remains on the bulletin board behinds the cashier's counter.
I've been following Ted's steady progress the last couple of years since I noticed his name listed in a nationwide tournament. His name stayed with me since I had the opportunity of casually meeting him when I worked the scorer's tent at the Classic. Actually the conversation began when he turned in his score card and I kidded him about being related to the famous film star Harry Potter. After that, we made small talk the next couple of days.
This year, Ted finally made it onto the PGA tour, and I was ever so proud, and then he wins his first PGA tournament -- what an accomplishment, especially when you consider just a few years ago he played in a professional tournament at Thunder Bayou Golf Links.
By the way, Ted's not the only PGA golf professional with Blytheville ties -- John Daly played some at the Country Club, and Tony Peterson, who works at Thunder Bayou.
I often wonder if we will ever again have pro tournaments. Our golf course is no longer in condition to bring in the pros. We no longer have an assigned golf professional to provide the expertise and set up such events. Our city-elected officials and certain appointed managers seem to know very little about golf to provide the needed leadership. Then, to top things off, the support of our local newspaper is minimal at very best.