AJGA will return to Dalhousie

~ While the three-year contract has ended, more of the best in junior golf is on the horizon.

Dalhousie Golf Club, which was awarded AJGA's tournament of the year in 2007 and 2008 and hosted the Rolex Tournament of Champions last week, will host another "major" AJGA event in 2011, according to club owner Cord Dombrowski.

"We definitely will have an event here in 2011," Dombrowski said after the conclusion of Saturday's tournament. "Probably another one of the AJGA major events. That will probably be coordinated with Rolex again as well. It may not be the Tournament of Champions, but another major Rolex AJGA event at Dalhousie in 2011."

While particulars of a major event in 2011 are in the air, Dombrowski said Dalhousie and the AJGA have "agreed to agree" on the tournament.

The AJGA and Dalhousie struck a three-year agreement in 2006, when the club agreed to host two open events, the Dalhousie Junior Championships, before hosting the Tournament of Champions. And the relationship has been cemented by three tournaments that have been at or near the top of the AJGA's year-long schedule of tournaments. Andrew Greenfield, tournament director for all three tournaments at Dalhousie, said the more than 400 volunteers at last week's tournament was a record for an AJGA event.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions concluded a three-year contract between Dalhousie Golf Club and the AJGA, but the partnership promises to bring more of the world's top junior golfers to Cape Girardeau in the future.

"We needed to do two events before we hosted this major event, obviously to get a handle on what's involved," Dombrowski said. "Now that we've done that, and done a great job at it, we can host anything that they have scheduled across the country. There's no question about that. So we're going to kick around among us whether we want to do an open event next year or not, but for sure we'll find a Rolex AJGA major event in '11.

"I don't know how far out they schedule the Rolex Tournament of Champions, but we'll find out more as the season goes on."

Cape Girardeau mayor Jay Knudtson was in on the discussions of bringing the AJGA to Cape Girardeau in 2006 and has served as co-chairman of the tournament all three years.

Knudtson, an avid golfer who belongs to Cape Girardeau Country Club, said he was excited to learn the relationship between the AJGA and Dalhousie was going to continue.

"We're just now getting it figured out with over 400 volunteers, and the community has embraced it, and it's something I look forward to," Knudtson said. "It's just a tremendous exposure of great golfers to our community, and the thing that I think is neat too is how the community embraces it, and it's truly brought golf to people who probably weren't avid golf fans. I've talked to several people out here that have never even gone to a golf course. And to me, that's what it's all about."

Dombrowski said the AJGA is going to going to lay out its schedule for the next several years and then share it with Dalhousie, and the two sides will see if the objectives of each side can align.

"What we're looking at doing within the future is, for the lack of better terms, their major events like this one, and sticking to that since we, Dalhousie and Cape, have done such a good job putting on this event," Dombrowski said. "They would want us to consider doing more of their major events."

The AJGA has 86 tournaments in 2009, of which 72 are open events and 14 are invitationals. Players in the invitationals, such as the Tournament of Champions, can only participate if they are invited. Greenfield said there are openings on the 2010 calendar if Dalhousie chooses to host an open event.

"We definitely have room [in 2010]," Greenfield said. "We just need to talk to Cord and see what works best for his club and what works best for the city of Cape Girardeau. We'll be back. I personally hope that it works out for next year, but there's no doubt we'll be back."

One drawback to this year's tournament was the absence of local golfers in the elite field that attracted a field of 144 golfers from six foreign countries and from throughout the United States. Only two golfers from the region were allowed exemptions into an otherwise invitation-only field -- Trent Hillis of Poplar Bluff and Cassie Rushing of Lake of Egypt, Ill. In the previous two tournaments, which were open events, six exemptions went to golfers from the region, including four that went to local golfers in 2008.

"The good thing about those is it's open up to a lot of kids, and we had those big qualifiers and multiple kids getting involved," Dombrowski said. "So we have to balance that against us doing a major AJGA event again, like the Rolex, and kind of sticking at that level."

The AJGA will have 13 invitation-only tournaments in 2011.

Dombrowski said one of the reasons Dalhousie might be reluctant to host an AJGA open event in 2010 is due to the scheduling of a couple other major events. The course will host the Missouri women's amateur in 2010, and is looking to host a big college tournament in the fall of 2010.

Dalhousie hosted the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in April, and it's looking to make an even bigger splash in 2010.

"We're working with a coordinator for collegiate golf events and we're looking at attracting the likes of Georgia, Texas A&M, who won the national championship, Oklahoma State, Texas and schools from the West Coast -- Southern Cal, UCLA -- and mixing that in with Missouri, SIU and some local Midwest schools," Dombrowski said.

Dalhousie Golf Club owner Cord Dombrowski congratulates second-place finisher Karen Chung at the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions awards ceremony Saturday at Dalhousie. (Elizabeth Dodd)

Dalhousie also will host the Missouri men's amateur tournament in 2012.