The 13th annual Pepsi Celebrity Golf Shootout presented by Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa and contested at Buckingham Golf and Country Club tees it up next Saturday morning. The Shootout format features a five-man scramble tournament with teams made up of four amateur contestants paired with an alumni of the National Football League.
Once again, the celebrity field is heavily represented by former San Francisco 49ers and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, with an occasional Craig Morton sighting thrown in for good measure.
This year”s tourney will be downsized to just nine holes, meaning no one will be able to complain about eight-hour rounds of golf. The Shootout will be a giant 10-team skins game with the golf course at Buckingham set up long and difficult. With holes like the par-3 fifth playing to 225 yards and the following hole, the sixth, stretched out to a 240-yard par-3, birdies will be a very good thing and pars will take some work.
Former Raiders quarterback Kenny “The Snake” Stabler is a big-time crowd favorite who is a Shootout regular. In fact, most of the celebrities in this year”s Shootout have played in the tourney at least five times and everyone has been at Buckingham at least once before.
Stabler was at the helm of the Raiders offense when they won their first Super Bowl title and he holds a special place in Northern California sports lore. Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica was the Raiders” quarterback prior to the Stabler era during the formative years of the upstart American Football League. A pretty fair golfer and an extremely pleasant man, Lamonica is a familiar face at Buckingham.
A bigger-than-life defensive phenom during Lamonica”s time was the handlebar-mustached “Big Ben” Davidson. He returns this year”s field. Davidson caused havoc on offensive lines during the early years of the Raiders” franchise history. Another defensive lineman with a Super Bowl ring on his finger is Art Thoms. Thoms” team won last year”s Shootout. He also serves as the charity auctioneer during the post tournament awards dinner.
Stabler”s favorite target during his heyday, Cliff Branch, will be searching for the fairways at Buckingham next Saturday. Branch was a big-time wide receiver who played in four Pro Bowls during a 14-year career.
Other former Raiders in this year”s field include fullback Marv Hubbard and linebacker Rod Martin.
Former San Francisco 49er running back Roger Craig returns for another shot at the Shootout. A great all-purpose back who ran for more than 1,000 yards and had more than 1,000 yards in receptions during the same season, he has three Super Bowl rings and played in four Pro Bowls during a stellar 11-year career. Niner wide receivers John Taylor and Mike Wilson were formidable offensive threats playing alongside Jerry Rice. Taylor caught the game-winning pass in the Niners” 1989 Super Bowl triumph over Cincinnati (Super Bowl XXIII) and Wilson played on each of the 49ers” first four Super Bowl teams (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989).
Former All-Pro Russ Francis was an outstanding possession tight end who could also throw a really mean block. Another great tight end, Ted Kwalik, is the most unique member of the Pepsi Celebrity field in that he played not only for the Niners but also for the Raiders during a stellar nine-year career.
Eric Wright was a great cornerback, spending all 10 years of his career in a Niner uniform. Former Joe Montana backup John Paye returns to this year”s field. Paye quarterbacked Stanford and was a four-year starter for the Cardinal.
The only non-49er and non-Raider in the Shootout field is former Cowboy and Bronco quarterback Craig Morton. Morton does have a Bay Area connection in that he was the signal caller at Cal from 1962-64. He”ll be bringing his boombox and mulligans to Buckingham once again this year.
The 13th annual Pepsi Celebrity Golf Shootout commences next Saturday morning at Buckingham Golf and Country Club at the base of Mount Konocti. A field of former Niners and Raiders will bring a little bit of golf to the links as well as a lot of great sports memories in this annual walk down memory lane.
The conclusion to last weekend”s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club was the golfing highlight of the major tournament season. It featured the world”s No. 1 player, Tiger Woods, on a golfing stage in which he is virtually unbeatable alongside a one-time PGA Tour winner, Y.E. Yang. To his credit, Yang had battled with Tiger back in 2006 at the HSBC Champions Tourney in China, a European Tour event, and he had won that event too.
Yang hit a great money shot when he stiffed a hybrid on the final hole and drained the putt from 7 feet to clinch the PGA. Yang”s shot was right up there with Corey Pavin”s last-hole heroics at Shinnecock and Jerry Pate”s final blow at the Atlanta Athletic Club. As for Woods, his runner-up finish at the PGA is not a sign that the apocalypse is near. He hit two pure iron shots on the last two holes, ended up in greenside rough, and just didn”t have a miracle up his sleeve this time around. Ben Hogan had his Jack Fleck moment, Jack Nicklaus had his Gay Brewer moment, and now Tiger Woods is inexplicitly linked in golfing lore with one Y.E. Yang.
Finally, in the big-time congratulations department, my longtime golfing buddy from Grand Rapids, Jim Hegarty, shot a 1-over-par 73 while waiting out a five-hour mid-round rain delay at Kalamazoo Country Club in Michigan to qualify for the United States Senior Amateur. The Senior Am is being contested at Beverly Country Club in Chicago, a Donald Ross course that counts among its past champions Chick Evans, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. It”s also the golf course where this columnist learned to play the game and carried doubles as a caddie for a $6 flat fee. Hegarty is a multiple club champion at Egypt Valley, a former Senior PGA Tour site, and he played in the 1988 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Prairie Dunes.
Way to go Jim!
