Executive Director Report - Gateway PGA

C ongratulations to new Member,Brian Kuddes, of Panther Creek CCin Springfield, IL.T he inaugural Callaway Golf Lake ofthe Ozarks Classic was a success atOsage National Golf Resort. DavidKohlberg of Callaway Golf was on handand provided players in the field the opportunityfor swing analysis and had thenew line up of Callaway products availableas well. Teams from the Midwest &South Central Sections along with ourGateway Pros played the 54 hole eventon all 3 of Osage Nationals nines. Themountain nine had only been open for 3days prior to our event and was in greatshape and the players really enjoyed thechanges made to the course. Mike Suhre& Shane Blankenship won the event.W hat is going on with the TournamentProgram? I don’t know if the niceweather is bringing everyone out, butthrough the first month of the schedule,the participation numbers are “throughthe roof” so far. We had 80 players atNorwood Hills for the Quad-Pro, 60players at Tanglewood GC for the CentralMO Classic, and over 90 players registeredfor the Assistants Pro-Am atWingHaven. It is great to see so manynew faces and the return of some playerswho have been away for a while. AtTangelwood, we had several new playersin the crowd. New to the Gateway Sectionand making their first Gateway Tournamentappearances were Nick Siudelafrom Mt. Sterling, IL, Mark Dwornicki &Cameron Faulkner from St. Clair CC,recent PAT passers Alex Anderson(Gateway PGA) and Brad Dean (OldHickory CC), and Craig Bollman returningto the Gateway Section from the KentuckySection.S peaking of new faces, TanglewoodGolf Club in Fulton, MO, provided theGateway Section with an outstanding experienceand venue for the Central MOClassic. Players were raving about thelayout and condition of the golf course.Tanglewood stepped up and offered theuse of their facility after heavy rainsforced the cancelation of the event fromJefferson City CC. Within 24 hours, hostProfessional Kit Tennyson and his staffhad the place ready to go for the 60 GatewayPGA Members. The event went offwithout a hitch and the scores were amazingconsidering 40+ mph winds throughoutthe day. 10 players finished the dayat par or better.O ne player missing from the field atTanglewood was Ramsey, IL, GatewayPGA Member Brad Leiken. We ran intoBrad at a Spring Junior PGA Series eventat Belk Park and he told us that he wouldbe on the sidelines for a while. Turns outthat Brad was helping his son move outwest and had to stop on the way out therewith pain in his side and he ended up onthe operating table having a tumor removed.The procedure went well and thedoctors are optimistic that they got it all,but as a precaution, Brad will be startinga round of chemo treatments and will beon the bench for a couple of months. Heis in good spirits and is back to work, butplease keep Brad in your thoughts andprayers as he goes through this process.C ongratulations to the six playerswho successfully completed the PlayingAbility Test at Eagle Springs GC onApril 12th. Those meeting the targetscores were Alex Anderson (GatewayPGA Jr. Director), Craig Story (GolfHeadquarters in Kirkwood), Brad Dean(Old Hickory CC), Joshua Baltrusaitis,Myles Beckett (Sullivan CC), and BryanEaston (Golf Galaxy).Gateway Section | 17269 Wild Horse Creek Rd, Ste 110 | Chesterfield, MO 63005-1360 | gateway@pgahq.com | www.gatewaypga.org 11