Managing member deems tourney a success

After two successful runs of the American Junior Golf Association's Dalhousie Junior Championship and with the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions on the calendar for 2009, Dalhousie Golf Club officials will get a few months to sit back and consider the future for junior golf at the course.

"Right now, we're just focusing on the Rolex," Dalhousie managing member Cord Dombrowski said, "but I'm sure in February or March, we'll be talking about what we do beyond that. And we'll be open to discussions with them to see what we can do or what we have a chance of hosting."

Dombrowski expects to attend the AJGA's national meeting in Atlanta early in 2009 and have some discussions about the future relationship.

"Do we do another Dalhousie Junior Championship, or do we do something beyond the Rolex?" said Dombrowski, who alluded to other invitationals on the circuit as well as its Canon Cup match-play event that pits all-star teams from East and West. "There's all kinds of things out there that the AJGA promotes wholly on their own or with others.

"This proves that junior golf is where we like to find our little niche."

The course in recent years has hosted Missouri Golf Association events, an NAIA collegiate regional golf championship and will host a USGA Senior Amateur qualifier next week, but the AJGA events have been the course's biggest undertakings since it opened in 2002.

Fields of 144 golfers -- including a few local youths -- played each of the last two years in three-day, 54-hole events, which followed Sunday qualifying tournaments and Monday junior-am fundraiser events. The organizational effort included more than 200 volunteers this year, and the funds raised -- which benefit the AJGA's grant program as well as local junior and high school golf efforts -- also will exceed last year, Dombrowski said.

The tournament was one of the top five in the country last year in raising money, which was one of the many reasons the event was named the AJGA's tournament of the year for 2007.

Dombrowski, who was tournament co-chair with Cape Girardeau mayor Jay Knudtson, was pleased with how the event played out this year.

"No question about that," Dombrowski said. "There are two things that made it better. One was the weather, obviously. Nothing we could do about that; it was just perfect.

"And two, which facilitated the processing so much better, was accessing the Manor house."

The Members Manor clubhouse was in the final stages of construction last year when the AJGA came to town, and this year it hosted the junior-am reception as well as meals before and after rounds for the players and their families.

The tournament again included a fish fry at Dalhousie Water's Edge after the first round and a barbecue and Throwed Rolls contest at the course after the second day.

Another factor was the volunteer effort, which grew from 177 to more than 200.

"That was tremendous," Dombrowski said. "It could have easily gone the other way. We were able to spread out more folks over more tasks that needed to be done so no one group of people was overworked or overburdened.

"All the events don't have that luxury of having that great volunteer staff. We were thrilled. That's a testament to the community."

Dombrowski said he also heard often from players and their families about the way they were treated by the community.

"The common thing you hear is 'We just don't get treated like this everywhere we go,'" he said. "It's not just the good golf. It's the people, it's the hospitality."

Dombrowski said he heard of one family from out of state that purchased a vehicle from one of the sponsors and drove it back home, and he had a few people express interest in membership at Dalhousie.

"Who knows where that goes? But it's not just Dalhousie and the golf course," Dombrowski said. "It's the environment. We've got the full-meal deal here, and it's starting to show."

The caliber of the tourney field was better for the second year, with more players having won previous tournaments and having posted top-10 finishes. Some of the scores came in lower, as well, with players posting three times as many rounds under par (21 this year to seven last year) and shaving off nearly 1.4 strokes per round. Dustin Korte shot a 64 on the opening day to set the course's competitive scoring record.

Dombrowski said he met with tournament director Andrew Greenfield on Friday to begin talking about the setup for the 2009 Rolex Tournament of Champions.

"Typically, the average guy will think if you make it longer, it will make it difficult, which is not necessarily the case," Dombrowski said. "Having reviewed the scores and stats for each hole per round and for the event ... I think it's a combination of things -- green speed and tightening some landing areas and the breadth of rough in some of the fairways."

While the course likely will play longer for the Rolex, Dombrowski did not believe the low round of 64 will lead to major shakeups.

"I don't think the AJGA staff nor us are going to react to one extremely good round of golf," Dombrowski said. "If you analyze what he did, occasionally a golfer has one of those days where you make a mile's worth of putts. He had some good, quality shots, but his putter was extremely hot that day. He had a good read on everything he looked at, his pace was right on and they were just falling in.

"I think it's more analyzing the entire field and the average score per hole based on tee locations and greens speed."

Dombrowksi said course superintendent Todd Ellis had to add water to the greens over the final days to keep the Stimp meter at 10.5. Dry weather and wind threatened to make the greens faster.

"We did have to water more than normal to get the speed down," Dombrowski said, "or it would just get too crazy for them."