Golf Notebook: Lpga Players Help Charity Event Prosper

Oh, sure, they usually take five or six hours to complete. And most of the players spend more time searching for their ball than they do whacking the dimples off it.

But deep down inside, a golfer — whether they are scratch or a 20-handicap — has to get a warm feeling when they know how much their contribution means to various organizations.

Last week, the 21st annual Randalls For Kids Charity Golf Tournament was played at Canongate's Oaks and Panther Trail courses at The Woodlands Resort.

The tournament raised $300,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston. In 21 years, the event has raised nearly $4 million.

All proceeds have been used to fund the Boys & Girls Clubs' education and career development programs and for the Clubs' operating expenses.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston include 15 clubs in Harris, Galveston, Waller and Fort Bend counties that serve about 15,000 youths per year.

“I can't tell you how much this means to us,” said Boys & Girls Club director Angela Hodson after the tournament. “This is a huge fund-raiser and it is so meaningful to us. More and more kids need these clubs more than ever.”

Hodson, whose maiden name was Angela Atkins, played at Texas A&M in the mid-1980s, then tried her luck on the LPGA Tour .

The 45-year-old Hodson still drives the ball some 260 yards and is much more accurate than the meteorologists, who predicted clear skies for the Randalls tournament.

It rained the entire round but almost every team kept on playing. It is a tribute to the tradition of the event.

“This is our 21st year of having this event and it just keeps getting bigger and better,” Hodson said.

One of the reasons for the growth is the LPGA players who commit to play in the one-day scramble.

This year, 46 LPGA pros showed not only their skills but their personalities during a long round with strangers.

“On behalf of the LPGA, we realize the Boys & Girls Clubs are such an important thing for the (Houston) community,” said LPGA player Kim Bauer. “When we started this (event), we had three or four clubs. Now, we have 15 .”

The pros who played in the tournament included Michelle McGann, former U.S. Open champion Hilary Lunke and Angela Stanford, who has won three events the last two seasons.

“I know I drove them crazy with phone calls making sure they were coming,” Bauer said. “But this is a very generous group of young ladies to come out and participate.”

Smokin Joe's on the air

Joe Pogge of the Pogge Marketing Group loves the sport of golf so much that he will get up at 7 a.m. every Saturday just to talk about it.

Pogge, who is a very good amateur player, is the host of Smokin Joe's Driving Range at 7 a.m. Saturdays on KILT (610 AM).
But Duchesne head coach Ernie Mercado wasn't sure about the opponent. The Chargers will play either Austin St. Michael's or San Antonio Holy Cross in a TAPPS Class 5A bi-district playoff game.

“The certification date was last week, but TAPPS District 1-5A still had a few games left to play,” Mercado said. “We're still waiting to find out who we play.”

Duchesne earned the fourth seed from District 3-5A after the Chargers and St. Pius decided to cancel their final league game.

“We would have had to beat St. Pius twice to get third place, so we just called it off,” Mercado said.

But the Chargers still had a remarkable regular season, taking a 15-7-2 mark into the playoffs.

Duchesne ended the regular season with a 7-0 win over Central Christian. Lauren Mercado hurled a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Sisters Cathryn and Michelle Liles led the offense, going a combined 4-for-4 at the plate.

Mercado said the Chargers are ecstatic about making the postseason for the first time.

“This is a big moment for us, and we want to take it as far as we can,” Mercado said.

Falcons second and fourth at SPC

Kinkaid's golf teams managed to get in two rounds of golf last week before the rest of the Southwest Preparatory Conference Championships were postponed because of the swine flu scare.

Kinkaid's boys and girls finished second and fourth in their respective divisions, a bright spot during an otherwise quiet week.

“I'm really happy we were able to get the (SPC) golf tournament in,” said Kinkaid head boys coach Garry McMillan. “That's the advantage of having it earlier in the week (compared to the other SPC spring sports).”

Kinkaid's boys came the closest to ending Episcopal's reign atop the SPC leader board. The Falcons shot consecutive rounds of 307 on Plano's Chase Oaks Golf Club for a two-day total of 614. But Episcopal (301-305) still notched an eight-shot victory with a combined score of 606.