July 3, 2005

GLEN ALLEN, VA — The Carl Spackler Open has seen great things over the years. First, the creation of a Captains Club and then the creation of a website to bring it all together. The #1 amateur golf tournament is now just waiting for the 1,000th submitted scorecard in 2005.

"It is really hard to believe," says Greg Long, Chairman of the Captains Club. "We have already grown at 42.5% in submitted scorecards in the first half of the year. It really demonstrates the demand for a place to gather and share golf information."

The season-long tournament started in late March 2001 and resulted in 265 scorecards by November 2001. "Not bad considering the system was brand new," says Mike Trojanowski. "It was only a start to what was yet to come." The 2002 championship saw a double in scorecards entered when it doubled to 507 submissions.

In season 2003, the tournament continued to grow with players and the number of scorecards. By December 2003, the tournament received 665 scorecards.

"We really like the progress," says Jason Watson. "I think the Captains Club took the year off in 2004, but it seemed like the tournament was growing at pace we could not control." Last year's On Tour Championship received 835 scorecards and growing a mere 15% from the previous year.

"We continue to have high expectations," says Greg Long. "We are 148 scorecards from the last year's total and only at the mid-point.  Including the Carl Spackler Open Championship, exactly 935 scorecards have been submitted in 2005.  "I expected double from 2004, but 42.5% is quite an increase," says Long.  "Joe Butkus is large contributor to our successes as our most active member."

The largest influx in Spackler history came last year over the Memorial Day and 4th of July holiday weekends.  The tournament received nearly 68 scorecards in 10 days.  This past Memorial Day Weekend soared to 61 scorecards in 5 days.  Depending on weather, a trend would predict another 55 scorecards this holiday weekend.

There are currently 124 players registered for the On Tour Championship and 71 active players on the leaderboard. The next question is when the tournament will break the record 100 players qualifing for the Leaderboard.