2005 Billy Hardy/FarmLinks/CACC Spring Invitational Golf Tournament

A special event! This year's Billy Hardy/FarmLinks Tournament was a huge success for reasons on multiple levels. On a personal level, I was able to show my gratitude to one of Alexander City's finest gentlemen, Billy Hardy. As we began the Tournament's Awards Ceremony, I was able to introduce and recognize Mr. Hardy, in front of the tournament field and coaches, as one of the key factors of CACC Golf's reinstatement was a possibility 4 years ago. Mr. Hardy, along with Hoyt Carlisle, Percy Yeargen and a few other community CACC Golf Supporters were adamant in returning golf to our College. It was a joy for me to award Mr. Hardy with a plaque, expressing our gratitude for his efforts. Each one of community college teams has a few special people in their towns; that stand out with above normal moral support. Mr. Hardy does fit into that group. I am honored to name our Spring Invitational after this fine man who loves the game of golf, appreciates those who work hard to raise their ability level and a man who has achieved a high level of golf capability himself.

Another reason this tournament is so special is in its location. FarmLinks, one of Alabama's finest golf courses is a special treat for these college golfers to visit and compete. FarmLinks is owned and operated by the Pursell family; Jimmy & David, who are both amazingly who are extremely successful businessmen, but love and appreciate the youth of America. Along with his great business mind, David is also an amazing artist. The GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) contracts David Pursell to do one piece of art a year. D.P. has done some amazing work with pencil of some of golf's most influential people: Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Ben Crenshaw, Ben Hogan, Ken Venturi, Bob Hope and in this year's project, David did a piece of Jack Nicklaus. As I was saying, the Pursells love the youth of America, at this tournament he arranged for each competitor and coach to have one of his prints. This was a very kind gesture, and for all involved, greatly appreciated. We, as CACC Golfers, are so very blessed in having this wonderful friendly relationship with the Pursell Family and the staff of FarmLinks. David Stinson, (Head Golf Professional) and Chad Meeks, (First Assistant Golf Professional) both worked hard to assure that everyone would be able to enjoy the FarmLinks' Experience! Talk about an amazing task? The Maintenance Staff of FarmLinks, worked day and night to prepare this course for our Tournament. They overcame damaging high winds and flooded areas from last weeks record storms. I cannot thank those fine people enough.

Lastly, one of the reasons for this tournament being a stand-out event is due to where these colleges are from. We had representation from 7 different states. There is not another tournament, played in the regular season that rivals this number. I am very grateful to those colleges for visiting one of our "Pieces of Heaven", in coming to compete with CACC at FarmLinks.

The CACC Golfers were hoping for our 4-in-a-row winning record to continue, but it did not happen. As a Team, we never got momentum on our side. Although, James Bowen did have come exciting scores over his first two rounds. On Monday, while we played 36 holes, James had 11 birdies and 2 eagles, unfortunately he also had a couple of quadruple and double bogies to go along with the low numbers. He did keep it together to well enough to come in 3^rd in our tournament, but with a few better decisions, he could have run away with this tournament. I was very pleased to see Jesse Blom come through for us in the final round. Jesse's, even par, 72 was the lowscore of the final round. The heavier winds on Tuesday may have reminded Jesse of home in Platte, SD. This also broughtJesse into the All-Tournament Team, where I expect to see him finish more times thannot in the future.

Scores at the 2005 Billy Hardy/FarmLinks Tournament were not as low as I had forecasted, but there are a few reasons. FarmLinks had been aerated a few weeks ago, and with the recent record storms Alabama has been hit with, the greens were not quite as smooth as they normally are. There were some missed putts and chips deflected due to the holes. Some golfers, who do not have the maturity level to accept conditions as they are, become frustrated and flustered, causing much higher scores than normal. This apparently happened at this year's event. However those who stayed with their game-plan did come shoot some fine scores.

Please read the following scores and thank you for your concern and support for CACC Golf and/or 2-year college golf.

Dave Jennings

Golf Coach

CACC

1) Brevard Community College Cocoa, FL 892

2) Indian Hills Community College Iowa 895

3) Central Alabama Community College Alex City, AL 910

4) South Mountain Community College Phoenix, AZ 910

5) Faulkner State Community College Fairhope, AL 911

6) Dixie State Community College UT 921

7) Wallace State Community College Hanceville, AL 925

8) Cleveland State Community College Cleveland, TN 928

9) Northwest Shoals Community College Muscles Shoals, AL 953

9) Rend Lake College IN 953

11) Faulkner University Montgomery, AL 1001

Pos. Name College Score

1 Andy Rauscher IHCC 216

2 Jon Oswalt FSCC 219

3 Matt Snowden FSCC 220

4 James Bowen CACC 222

T-5 Casey Timms BCC 223

T-5 Jesse Blom CACC 223

T-5 Silas Sutton WSCC 223

T-5 J.D. Vibert WSCC 223

T-5 Nick Carlson SMCC 223

CACC Golfer's Scores:

Bart Barnes 225

Kyle Sullivan 231

Ryan Cantrell 232

Patrick Gordon 236

Derrick Bright 239

Jon Roque' 248

Brevard: 299 295 298 892

Timms: 74 75 74 223

Palmer 76 76 74 221

France 76 73 78 227

Connolly 73 80 73 226

Nielsen 76 71 77 224

Indian Hills: 297 296 302 895

Smith 80 76 73 229

Keith 76 76 76 228

Rauscher 69 70 77 216

Fraser 78 75 79 232

Fisher 74 75 76 225

So. Mountain 304 302 304 910

Rutledge 74 74 79 227

Capps 75 76 75 226

Carlsen 75 75 73 223

Doyle 80 78 81 239

Aydelotte 82 77 77 236

Faulkner State 300 298 313 911

Rhodes 77 81 82 240

Snowden 72 73 75 220

Oswalt 72 68 79 219

Todd 80 78 77 235

Ring 79 79 83 241

Dixie State 305 307 309 921

Fielding 70 76 83 229

Roper 79 75 77 231

Borget 79 78 76 235

Broker 77 83 74 234

Burton 79 78 82 239

Wallace State 302 313 310 925

Wideman 75 82 73 230

Schlossen 78 75 84 237

Vibert 72 77 74 223

Drake 77 85 80 242

Rice 89 79 83 251

Cleveland 308 308 312 928

Guthrie 79 72 73 224

Freeman 77 75 83 225

Cissom 74 81 77 232

Nelson 82 84 86 252

Osborne 78 80 79 237

Northwest S. 308 304 313 953

Georgeot 75 74 77 231

Jones 80 71 75 237

Scoggins 77 78 77 239

Bayles 76 82 84 242

Smith 82 81 87 249

Rend Lake 317 326 313 953

Singleton 76 78 77 231

Throgmaton 80 82 75 237

Cromeenes 81 81 77 239

Kuddes DQ 84 84 DQ

Stolpe 80 82 87 249

Faulkner U. 335 333 333 1001

Watts 82 87 78 247

Kunns 81 79 78 238

Frost 84 83 88 255

Hunt 89 84 92 265