By Barbara Palmgren
When your goal is to compete in the PGA Tour and win thousands of dollars playing a game you love, where do you start?
It might begin when you are young, competing first at the youth, high school and college level. And then? You navigate professional tours like this one, invest in Q-School in the fall and their qualifying tournaments and vie for the “golden ticket” for a few invitational slots each year to the PGA. If you aren’t one of the top players to earn entry into the PGA, you hope you have acquired enough points to earn entry to the Korn Ferry Tour. This organization is similar to the minor leagues in baseball and players can win money with top players advancing also to the PGA. There are also other rare opportunities to be selected as a member of the PGA or Korn Ferry Tours as well. The goal, however, remains the same. To be one of the top professional golfers in the world!
But, the weekend of June 7-9 at Shalimar Pointe Golf Club, 12 touring professional golfers, dreaming this PGA dream, teed off with amateur golfers who paid an entry fee to be part of a four-person team led by a touring professional in a two day two-ball tournament. After two days, the touring professional golfers spent a final day to decide who would win the three-day Emerald Coast Golf Tour Tournament.
The Emerald Coast Golf Tour is owned and directed by Geno Celano. Geno organized this tour 30 years ago. Geno was a professional golfer, participating in tours like Korn Ferry. Back then, the names for these tours include Nike, Ben Hogan, etc. Like Korn Ferry, these tours were the entry points into the PGA tour. Gino grew up in Okaloosa County, attending Choctawhatchee High School and playing on the golf team. He also competed for college teams at Florida State and Alabama. Golf was in his DNA and he toured in competitions like this one all over the country, especially in Orlando. But there was nothing available in the Panhandle.
Yes, Geno made the decision to organize the Emerald Coast Golf Tour in our area. Geno put professional golf on the map for us.
Participants in the ECGT tournament in June at Shalimar Pointe Golf Club registered from all over the south: Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. The weather was warm and the course was challenging. Geno made hotel and meal arrangements for the touring professionals as well as planning the tournament itself. Enthusiastic golfers from the tri-county area were invited to register and join a team. Each team was led by one of the touring professionals. For the amateur golfer, the opportunity to play with a touring professional was an opportunity to have the golf experience of a life-time.
After two days, the first-place winning team with a net score of 262 was the team of professional golfer Josh Edgar and amateurs Bart Walker, John Slingerland, and Adam Bogdon. I interviewed Josh Edgar who hails from Australia, lived in Alabama and coaches at Georgia State. His goal is to earn entry to the PGA Tour. I’ll definitely be rooting for this young man from “down-under” as he pursues his goals.
In addition, a new course record was set at Shalimar Pointe Golf Course. Jacob Harper, from Valley, Alabama, shot a score of 66 on the first day of the tournament. The previous low score was 67. His score card will be displayed at the Shalimar Pointe Golf Course, replacing the old winner with a score of 67.
In addition, after three days of competitive play, Jacob Harper won first place with scores over the three days of 66, 67 and 71. Congratulations, Jacob!
