April 13, 2010

LAGUNA VISTA, TX — With just over two days left before the annual practice round, the handicaps, pairings, and roommates have been set for the 10th annual Carl Spackler Open Championship. Final points have be updated for the tournament including the scramble team event. A press conference was called to answer plenty of questions regarding the overall tournament.

The Chairman and 2001 Golden Jacket winner, 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 Texas since Tin Cup was filmed in the suburbs of Houston," says Long. "I can say that after meeting Tin Cup and Carl Spackler on the same day a few years ago."

Long dove into the meat of the question. "Lets start with the course. South Padre Island Golf Club demonstrates enough unique character and conditions to impress. The palm trees, bayside design, and extremely flat terrain are major components to the course character. My only concern is 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 golf course 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 am not a fan of bermuda, but we have Championship standards and South Padre is doing a great job. The greens were very fast in October. I suck at putting, but was amazed after 27 holes in October when balls would roll 6 feet past the hole.

The fairways were nice and the bunkers were edged beautifully," says Long. "There are water hazards everywhere and some jungle. I learned last year in Virginia how fast conditions can change.

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 11:06AM CST on the practice green. ex-Assistant Greenskeeper Tom McCauley will be sharing the facts instead of rumors behind divot repair."

Jason Watson, Pat Boland, and Greg Long will return to South Padre Island Golf Club 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," 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. It is pretty amazing to sit back and think about the actions that brought South Padre Island Golf Club to reality.

The club is estimating $38,300 will be spent this year before consideration of food and beverage. I would estimate the golf tournament will stimulate Southwest Airlines and the local economy with approximately $49,000 by April 19."

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 a 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. It will drive fine for a period of time, but eventually the porsche is going to lose a wheel, leave the road, hit 10 trees, flip over 6 times, 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]

An Ohio reporter asked, "The weather looks like more of the same. Does Spackler have a curse?"

Long replied, "No. We have set records for precipitation in 2003 and 2009, however have never shortened the golf tournament.

The Captains Club has purposely delivered some rain to South Padre Island early this week not only to keep the public off the course, but to soften it.

All kidding aside, I cannot control the weather. The forecasted temperatures are truely incredible for this year's tournament. I think it is important to acknowledge the amount of rain that can fall instead of the probability. I think it will surprise. I am taking my umbrella, but those plans did not change this month."

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

"The wind is going to be play a large role this year," answered Long. "It can be very disastracting near the bay. Some guys will not be able to manage it mentally and others will move up the Leaderboard by default. There is going to be 8 to 12 guys who will manage the wind well and position themselves for Sunday."

The reporter replied, "We see that you are playing very well, but still three-putting. Do you have plans to win this thing again?"

"I did post my best round in 2 or 3 years on Sunday, which is pretty important with a major championship starting in a few days. My short game has come out of hibernation to join my long game.

I have never known someone personally with four or more dependents (kids) who could break 80 strokes. It has been a goal for years to break 80 and now looking at another achievement in Texas. It would be nice to play well in Texas."

The next question asked pertained to possible surprises.

"As Pat Boland has told me more than once, 'The logistics for this event are enormous'. I think the largest surprises will come to participants who are unknowledgable to logistics surrounding the trip. There is still a 54-hole golf tournament and familiar faces, but everything else seems to come with a different flavor this year.

I would also imagine there will be a few participants who have never traveled 5 minutes short of Mexico. The intensity of the sun is so much greater down there. The constant breeze and lack of clouds could very well surprise more than a few participants."

[Greg Garrett raises his hand as to speak.]

"Guys with 'Casper-the-friendly-ghost skin' better lather up," says the 9-time member of the Carl Spackler Open referring to sun block. "For those who get cooked, I highly recommend 'burning the sting out' of sun burns by taking a very hot bath."

Long asked if he could finish the conference with a quick overall summary of the week ahead. "Live music, beach, tropical climate, and South Padre Island Golf Club are the foundations to an top-notch golf experience, but our golfers ultimately control the environment. The facilities are there to host a once-in-a-life golf party, but it is the participants who need to embrace the opportunity and execute."

The 2010 Carl Spackler Open Championship will tee up at 8:45AM CST on Friday for Round 1. There are 51 participants expected to arrive in Texas tomorrow. A player packet was released yesterday for consumption.