AJGA measures success in other ways than crowd support

The American Junior Golf Association doesn't sell tickets, and it doesn't measure tournament success by having fans three-deep around the greens.

That's probably a good thing. A person could get lonely on parts of Dalhousie Golf Club with the first AJGA Dalhousie Junior Championship in town this week.

"Obviously, we'd love people to come out and watch," said Andrew Greenfield, tournament director for the AJGA. "It's not easy to get people to come out to a junior golf event, especially with players no one knows."

Moms and dads make up most of the spectators.

What's more important to Greenfield and Dalhousie general manager Andy Deiro is that those moms and dads and the players come away from the tournament with a good experience.

"For a lot of them, this may be their first time in Cape Girardeau, and we want to make sure they come away with a good experience and a good feeling," Deiro said.

With that in mind, the Dalhousie Junior Championship features some added extra touches. One of them is a specially designed first-place trophy that weighs 15 pounds and resembles one of the towers on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

"The winner of that trophy is going to have a bond with Cape Girardeau," Deiro said. "They may go on to do great things in golf and when they're 30, they will still have that unique trophy on their mantel and have that memory."

The tournament also tried to create good feelings with a fish fry dinner Tuesday night that gave some players their first chance to catch a fish or play hillbilly golf. Another dinner tonight will feature a "Lambert's throwed rolls" competition.

Deiro said his measure of success will come in the comments from the players and their families and the feedback of the community.

Greenfield said things are on the right track. "Talking with the players and their parents and our staff, this might be one of the highlights of the year," he said Tuesday.

Good feelings are hard to measure quantitatively.

But Greenfield said there already are numbers that show the Dalhousie Junior Championship is on track to be a success.

"Over 175 different volunteers out here this week," he said. "There are some markets where we struggle to get volunteers and sponsors."

This tournament doesn't have the title sponsor, but the combined contributions of Pepsi and Montgomery Bank have helped fill that void.

On top of the money put up by the main sponsors, Greenfield said the tournament had set a goal $20,000 in fundraising.

"We made that," he said Tuesday.

Tickets still are being sold for a drawing Thursday on a two-year lease on one of six new cars, and the money to pay for the lease will detract from the final kitty, which is being split between the AJGA's ACE scholarship program and Dalhousie's contribution to some of the high school golf programs in Southeast Missouri.

"Obviously, with two rounds to go, weird things can happen anytime," Greenfield said. "Where we stand right now, this tournament has been a huge success.

"The tournament committee we have here is outstanding," he added. "Not many tournaments have a committee so dedicated to an event. They've done such a great job creating awareness."

On top of Greenfield's measures of volunteer support and fundraising, the condition of the course also plays a role.

"We knew what we were getting when we came here, and Dalhousie has delivered," he said. "This golf course is the caliber of a USGA championship event. It's that good. I feel fortunate we were able to get in here before the USGA sees the course."

The AJGA is returning next year, in August, and then will play its Rolex Tournament of Champions at Dalhousie in 2009.

Beyond that, it's possible the AJGA may continue to be an annual event. As of now, it is the highest-profile event at Dalhousie.

And the club has treated it like one to complement the AJGA's own commitment to making the tournament experience similar to a professional event.

"The city of Cape Girardeau has never seen a major golf tournament like this before," Greenfield said. Echoing Deiro's sentiments, he added, "Our expectations will be a lot higher next year.

"The smaller communities are where we've had a lot of support and success. Communities like Ashland, Ky., and Abilene, Texas. I see this as a tournament that in a few years, people are saying the same thing about Cape Girardeau."

Toby Carrig is the sports editor of the Southeast Missourian and Semoball.com.