LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL TEEN IN PGA CHAMPIONS TOUR EVENT (with audio)
By John Axtell
Sep 3, 2010 - 1:09:17 AM
Northern Panhandle residents may be watching the PGA Champions Tour Home Care and Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach this weekend a lot more closely that usual.
That's because one of their own is in it, 16-year old Renen Sahr of Gordon, a junior at Gordon/Rushville High School.
Sahr, a member of The First Tee of The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is one of 78 junior golfers from around the country ages 15-to-18 who's been selected to play in the professional event.
First Tee Pine Ridge executive director Chris “Bubba” Heiser says the chapter is probably about as excited about it as Sahr is himself because this is the first time a member of the 5-year old chapter has been selected to play at Pebble Beach.
The 54-hole tournament is unique in the way that it matches up 78 professional senior golfers from the Champions Tour with an equal number of junior golfers, and tosses in another 156 amateurs of all ages
Sahr's playing partner is PGA veteran Jim Rutledge, who's been on the tour since 1978...first on the Nationwide Tour, then the regular PGA Tour, and now the CHampions Tour.
First Tee National CEO Joe Louis Barrow Jr says the junior golfers chosen through The First Tee program for the tournament earned their way there by both their golfing ability and their understanding of the program's Core Values and life skills.
. Heiser says there was a lot of competition for those slots, but that Sahr...who began playing golf when he was 2...is a perfect fit, a model member of The First Tee since joining 4 years ago and a mentor to newer and younger members.
Golf isn't Renen Sahr's only sport. He's also a member of the Gordon/Rushville football team, and Heiser says he's a little disappointed that playing at Pebble Beach will keep him away from tonight's big game at Alliance.
The Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach will air on the Golf Channel today and tomorrow from 4:30-6:30 pm MT and Sunday from 5:00-7:30 pm MT
Copyright by Double Q Country Radio
|