| I recently had the pleasure of attending the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am PGA Champions Tour event held at the TPC of Tampa Bay in Lutz, FL. Competing were name players like Tom Kite, Curtis Strange, Andy North, Craig Stadler, Larry Nelson, Hale Irwin, Fuzzy Zoeller, Mark O’Meara, Nick Price, and Bernhard Langer. There may have been more former Masters champions and US Open champs there than at the latest Masters tournament! If you wanted to see some of the best senior players in the world, they were there.
This event had perfect Florida weather and a crowd of spectators who came prepared for a fun day of watching great golf and a few top celebrities. Bill Murray of cult movie Caddyshack fame was the amateur winner last year, but was unable to attend.
No problem - actor and comedian George Lopez took center stage and kept everyone loose with his constant quips and friendly banter with playing partner Fuzzy Zoeller. George spent plenty of time chatting with fans and posing for photos. Along with George were “Coach” actor Craig T. Nelson, country singer Vince Gill, and World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez.
Tom Watson was defending champion from his win in 2007 and with the help of some missed putts by his competitors on the final few holes he repeated to become the 2008 winner as well. The team of Fulton Allem and Tampa Bay Bucs Derrick Brooks won the Pro-Am division.
From the players to the fans, everyone had a marvelous time at this golf tournament turned party. In the near future I’ll be writing a feature story on this terrific event so come back to my page to read it and check out lots of pictures of the players and celebrities. |
