October 1, 2007

PERU, IN — The #1 tournament in amateur golf, Carl Spackler Open, will get rockin in early June 2008. The Captains Club made the public venue announcement on Sunday night just before the ultimate deadline. Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru, IN will host the 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship.

"Today, with much excitement, we have selected Rock Hollow Golf Club to host the 2008 Carl Spackler Open," said Greg Long, Chairman of the Captains Club. "Once again, we are excited about our unique opportunities, Peru, steady growth of the tournament, and god willing exceeding expectations."

Rock Hollow is presently Golf Magazine's 11th Best Bargain in America and one of Golf Digest's 4 1/2 star courses. It was sculpted from a former gravel quarry mine with wetlands, trees, and heaving terrain inspired by Pete Dye's protege Tim Liddy.

Along with Rock Hollow, Whiskey River will also be rockin. Located in downtown Peru, Whiskey River (shown in photo) will boast live music on Saturday night along with other indoor activities.

"My single nomination of Rock Hollow was pretty easy after my initial visit in late-July," says Long. "Peru returns the traditional Spackler experience at traditional pricing while adding the largest participant suggestion over the past 3 years."

A reporter asked, "Peru. Are you sure? Is it big enough to host a major championship." Long replied with a chuckle, "If my memory serves me right, one of you reporters said something similar 3 years ago, "Barnesville. I seriously cannot find it on the map."

Dave Nickles muffled, "Michigan and Indiana back to back. That is a long ways from Virginia Beach." Long replied quickly as if he expected the question, "That is true. [pause] The goal is to consider each and every participant as much as possible and maintain 14 hours round trip on average over a 10 year period. Indiana fits into the current model."

Tom McCauley was very pleased with the news. "It is about time," said the 7-year Captains Club member. "I have been patiently waiting for nearly a decade and finally Spackler is coming home to Indiana."

The press conference quickly turned into a question and answer session. Senior Member Scott Miller spoke up, "I have a question. How do you think Peru will size up against our past venues?" Long replied, "'The Rock' is more traditional straight forward golf than previous years, but character driven once again. It was ranked by Golf Digest in the Top 100 Public Courses in America just 3 years ago. That speaks volumes with well over 10,000 public golf courses in America. The non-golf entertainment is broader than ever."

Miller replied, "Slick, can you define broad?". Long replied, "Not at this time. That is entire press conference in itself. We will schedule another press conference for that. [pause] I will say the facilities are in place and vendor relationships are stellar. Give us Michigan weather and this trip should be legendary. Our success will always be dependent on weather and our participants."

[Hands flew in the air.] Without begging for silence, he seemed ready to abort the news conference after just a few minutes at the podium. Long ignored other reporter hands in the air and forced questions. "I can see there are lots of questions. I am going to finish this press release," Long said as he tried to regain control. "Back to the golf course. A wonderful test of golf with many solid holes to make almost everyone stand back and take a second look. Similar to the Grande, you need to ask the clubhouse for the signature hole. You can expect 18 solid character driven holes in wonderful condition. I would imagine 20 percent of our senior members will consider the tournament course to be an all-time personal favorite."

The tournament will be played from 6,463 yards, which has a USGA Slope Rating of 131. This is down from last year's 132 and up from the Neuse at 129. For even further reference, the event played 131 at Mountain Valley, 135 at Tanglewood Park, and highest in history (137) at Thunder Hill.

"Almost everything appears to be going in Spackler favor this year," said Long. "I have a lot of confidence in our golf course, hotel, pricing, tournament logistics, transportation services, broader entertainment, and especially vendor relationships. The facilities and services are in place. Just like last year, there is a going to be a list of guys kicking themselves after missing this one.

OK. I am done. I will take one question today."

Senior member Jim English asked, "How about price?" Long replied, "The tournament fee is currently unknown, but overall venue fits the model for traditional pricing. October is our tournament budget season. I would expect an announcement on tournament fee by November 1."

Rock Hollow, known by locals as "The Rock", is located 90 minutes north from Indianapolis International Airport (IND). Open registration for the 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship is now available. The details surrounding registration will be available online starting November 15. Non-refundable non-transferable deposits of $120 per participant must be postmarked by December 28.