May 19, 2008

PERU, IN — With just over two weeks left before Round 1, the handicaps, pairings, and roommates have been set for the 8th annual Carl Spackler Open Championship. Final points will be updated just before the tournament, but general handicaps are becoming available including the scramble team event. A press conference was called to answer plenty of questions regarding the overall tournament.

The Chairman, Greg Long, led the press conference inside the Spackler's regional Columbus Media center.

The first question was directed at the overall tournament and whether the Captains Club, golf course, and player services are ready. "This stands to be the greatest golf event held in the state of Indiana since John Daly won 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick," says Long. "I can say that after meeting Carl Spackler in Indiana two years ago."

Long took a drink of his Budweiser and dove into the meat of the question. "Lets start with the course. Rock Hollow Golf Club demonstrates enough unique character and conditions to put it in my all-time Top 15. My worry is not whether the course will be enjoyed, but whether the water and sand bunkers will stalk golfers from tees and fairways. My main concern is only about whether the course is fan friendly enough and whether that will be become a distraction to our inexperienced members and rookies."

Long was mostly like referring to fan favorites Mike Lewis of Warren, PA and Scott Miller of Parkersburg, WV. Thousands are expected to flock through the unique design in hopes of getting a glimpse of a Lewis divot or Miller autograph.

A reporter asked about the conditions. "Very good question," exclaimed Long. "I have been assured golf carts have been prohibited in the rough to ensure a thick 4 inch cut for the Open Championship. We have Championship standards and Rock Hollow is doing a great job. I would like to delegate the response to current conditions to Pat Boland. He has just returned home from his first practice round."

"We all need to say a prayer for heavy rain on May 31 and June 1," says Long. "This will scare a high volume of foot and cart traffic off the golf course the weekend prior and result in near perfect conditions."

"That reminds me. The conditions will be as good as we can keep them. Repairing divots and raking sand is very important to achieving the best conditions. Professional divot repair instruction will be provided on Thursday at 10:06AM EST just off the first tee box. ex-Assistant Greenskeeper Tom McCauley will be sharing the facts instead of rumors behind divot repair."

Rob Harvey, Pat Boland, Greg Long, Bob Morris, and Tom Fowble will return to Rock Hollow with practice rounds.

The Captains Club finalized most of the plans last month and we are ready to execute. Long then verified those plans, "The Captains Club started early and is extremely prepared including backup plans for heavy rain," said Slick. "We all did a wonderful job this year and people will see everything either through TV coverage, website, attendance, or word of mouth."

"It has been fun inventing and providing the best opportunities for a fast growing golf tournament. The large budget helped us get everything we needed and wanted for this year's tournament including bus service, new logo flags, snacks, golf tools, gifts, meals, and thousands of dollars in other giveaways and prizes."

"The tournament budget exceeded $31,000 this year. I would estimate the golf tournament will stimulate the local Peru economy with approximately $45,000 by June 8."

Long immediately picked out someone from the back of the room. "Sir, do you have a question?" The reporter asked about favorites and chances of highly-touted Brian Flanagan winning again. Long replied, "My job is to simply level the field of players using the computer. In fact, I just let the computer do it, but techincally responsible for making sure everyone has four scorecards."

A waitress interrupted Long for a moment as she delivered his next beer. Long formally placed a few bills between her breasts for a tip, open his beer, and got back to business repeating part of the question to himself. "chances of Brian Flanagan repeating... Well, Butter has been playing really well over the past couple of years. The problem is Brian's swing. It is over the top and inconsistent due to lack of practice. It is very similar to driving a porsche down a road in a deep forest with no lug nuts. At some point, the porsche is going to hit 20 trees, flip over 6 times, and hit 5 more trees and end up in about ten-thousand pieces."

CEO Jeremy Myers shouted from the Captains Club table in the front. "I don't know about that. If we can teach a monkey to go to space, I would imagine we can teach Flanagan to golf consistently."

[the room busts out laughing]

A reporter asked, "Which golfer has the edge?"

"I think the average bogey golfer loses 3 or 4 balls each round at Carl Spackler Open-type golf courses," answered Long. "That can be very penal on a Leaderboard. This will increase by 20 percent in Indiana. This tournament is going to boil down to managing water hazards and trees."

The next question asked about possible surprises.

"I am not sure about surprises, but the two most unnoticed aspects of the tournament experience this year will be our hotel and course character. First, our hotel allows the tournament to be managed with 75 percent less logistics. The commute to course has been the largest suggestion in the past 5 years. Participants can expect just 5 minutes. Second, the course layout and character is super. The golf course will appear normal, however the design and difficulty increases substanitally when attempting to hit a golf ball inside 150 yards of the flagstick."

Long asked if he could finish the conference with a quick overall summary of the week ahead. "Live music, bowling, pool, and Rock Hollow Golf Club are the foundations to an top-notch golf tournament, but our golfers ultimately control the experience. The large portion of our tournament field will experience golf at a personal best. A very intriguing golf course with top of the line conditions. Then drinks and a relaxing dinner each night."

The 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship will tee up at 10:00AM EST on Thursday. The first three or four pairings will have just 10 to 15 minutes to be tee off after the player meeting.