In addition to the Ryder Cup, Pitches and Putts will be watching with interest this week’s PGA Tour event, the Viking Classic, from Madison, Mississippi. Pitches and Putts had the rare pleasure of playing in the Viking Pro-Am on Wednesday, joining several media members in the field.
Recovery from the Tuesday draw party and after-draw party — where Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour made a surprise appearance — was complicated by a 7 a.m. starting time, then a flat tire on our golf cart on the first tee. Pitches and Putts has fixed many a flat in his day, but couldn’t find the jack or the spare in the back of the E-Z-Go.
Coming to our aid was a southern gentleman who carried the clubs and dispensed advice on how to operate them. Turned out the man was Jack Slocum, a famed local player and teaching pro at nearby Vicksburg Country Club. He also happens to be the father of the PGA pro leading our group, Heath Slocum, former champion of the tournament (2005), then known as the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.
As we made our way around stately Annandale Golf Club, Heath was personable, helpful, attentive, and particularly appreciative of the good shots us media slugs managed to pull off.
Hearing “nice shot” from a PGA Tour pro is a thrill. Hearing “great swing,” is even better.
Playing with local-boy-done-good Heath, gave us a small gallery, nerve-wracking at first, but our group did well, jumping on the leader board early and finishing at 19-under-par in the handicapped better ball event.
Pitches and Putts is thrilled to reveal that he and the lovely and talented Jessica Marksbury (Golf Magazine) made one more natural birdie than Heath, while Dan Shepherd (Buffalo Communications) matched the birdie output of the 36-year-old PGA Tour pro who has won more than $13 million. In addition, Tom Lang (Texas Golfer) was the star of our group making timely pars on two holes where he received two handicap strokes. Of course, the tees us amateurs played were a good 60-degree wedge from those Heath had to fire from.
In all, it was a wonderful experience – perfect weather, an immaculate course with true, lightning-fast greens and manageable rough, southern hospitality, and, most of all, a chance to play with a PGA Tour standout who acquired four new fans.
If you tune in to the Viking Classic this weekend (Golf Channel), look for Slocum and his caddie for this event, his dad, Jack.
Here are some other Pro-Am highlights, reported by our fellow media members.
— John Mallinger and his caddie, Brent Henley, delighted in playing several shots with the hickory golf clubs of writer Darin “Calamity Jane” Bunch (Fairways + Greens Magazine).
— Woody Austin made a hole-in-one, his third this year, angering him that he “wasted” it in a pro-am.
— Both Austin and Mallinger were chatty and forthcoming, revealing which fellow players were their favorites and why they didn’t like others.
— According to writer Dan Vukelich (Chicago Sun Times), who peppered Austin with questions throughout, the only one he wouldn’t answer was about the possibility of using a restricted ball.
— Media members were thrilled that one of their own, former college player Ian Thompson (Birmingham News), shot a 2-under-par 70 in the pro-am, less than 24 hours after declaring his game “a distant memory.”
— Austin’s group, which included Janet Leach (Mississippi Development Authority), Erik Peterson (Golf Channel), Ian Cruickshank (Toronto Star), and Vukelich, finished third.
— There were a few celebrity sightings in the pro-am, inlcuding celebrity chef Emeril, who looked like a solid player. Emeril and several other noted chefs will perform cooking deomonstrations during the tournament. Viking is a producer of cookware.
— Tuesday’s draw party was interesting. Forsomes determined which pro they would draft with via lottery. Predictably, the first player drafted was Rocco Mediate. Not so predictably, the No. 2 choice was Steve Elkington (which would have been Pitches and Putts last choice, especially after he confirmed his smarmy reputation during the draw party).
— Pitches and Putts’ foursome ranked our 15 favorite available players, crossed out some in the pro-am field, and left others blank. We were lucky to get an early slot in the lottery and used it to select the No. 3 player on our draft board, Slocum. There were some groans when we made our choice, as many foursomes were evidently anxious to play with the local hero.
Coming Next: Pitches and Putts will review three spectacular courses he played in the Mississippi Gulf Region – Grand Bear (Jack Nicklaus), The Preserve (Jerry Pate), and Fallen Oak (Tom Fazio).
