Area schools benefit from AJGA tourney

With the American Junior Golf Association's marquee event coming to Dalhousie Golf Club this summer, a few different wrinkles will be part of the mix, but Dalhousie still plans to be able to give back to the local golf community.

The AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions is scheduled for June 30 through July 4, bringing the top 144 junior golfers in the association to town. The event also will include a junior-am event to raise money for local high school and junior golf programs.

"We at Dalhousie are very proud to be associated with AJGA, which in turn has given us the opportunity to get exposed to the high schools in our area, to participate with the junior golf programs and to have the high school kids in our area exposed to Dalhousie," Dalhousie managing member Cord Dombrowski said. "We couldn't be more thrilled, and we hope this continues for a long, long time."

On Tuesday afternoon, Dombrowski presented the local half of $35,000 proceeds from last year's AJGA Dalhousie Championship -- one-half ($17,500) also goes to AJGA's ACE grant -- to the First Tee program and six high school golf programs: Advance, Central, Jackson, Notre Dame, Saxony Lutheran and Sikeston.

The money helps the programs with travel costs or to buy team shirts, bags and golf balls.

The AJGA's third tournament in three years at Dalhousie will be the association's big event, which includes a formal dinner and an invitational field of players who have won tournaments or rank high in the Polo Golf Rankings.

"If you think the field was strong in '07, and it ended up being stronger in '08, this year will be just off the charts," Dombrowski said. "They'll be here from 32 different countries and, obviously, from across the breadth of America. Coming here in June to Cape Girardeau is going to be probably a half-dozen young kids that you're going to see on TV in probably 36 months.

"The format won't change as far as our involvement as a club. There will be a lot more formality because the Rolex people will be here. It will be a lot of good golf and social activities."

The junior-am, scheduled for June 30, will pair three amateur players with one junior boy player and one junior girl player. The entry fee is $3,000 per team, but Dombrowski said about half of the 27-team field already is filled.

Since its inception in 2007, when the entry fee was $1,250 per foursome, the junior-am for the AJGA event has always been one of the more expensive golf tournaments in the area.

"It was sticker shock the first year," Dombrowski said. "We really, really had to sell it and push it and promote it, and everybody stepped up. Last year, it was easier to sell because everybody saw the value was -- not just the opportunity to play with a kid who hits it 300 yards, but the whole view -- the atmosphere, the kids."

Notes

• Dalhousie has not made a commitment on its relationship with AJGA beyond this year. "We would like very much to continue the relationship, but there has to be a balance between what we want to do and what they want to do and what the community can continue to support," Dombrowksi said. He added that the course, which will host the Missouri Valley Conference college tournament this spring, has an eye on other amateur events. "Dalhousie is definitely on the USGA's radar," he said.
• Dombrowski said the Rolex event may attract as many as 60 or 70 college golf coaches. He estimated seven or eight coaches attended last year's tournament.
• The AJGA's annual banquet tenatively is scheduled for March, but Dombrowski said it may be delayed or conducted in another manner due to economic concerns. At last year's banquet, the 2007 Dalhousie Junior Championship was named the Tournament of the Year. "We went into things pretty blind and just did the typical Southeast Missouri way of working things through," Dombrowski, "and lo and behold, we ended up being tournament of the year of all the AJGA events in the country." The 2008 event had an increase in volunteers and fund-raising, which makes Dalhousie a strong candidate for back-to-back honors.