Last week The Ben Hogan Foundation and The Henry House Foundation hosted the 1st Annual Ben Hogan Invitational Tournament at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth Texas. The winner was Dave Schultz, a local prodigy that is currently 21st on the Nationwide Tour's money list. He and his partner Colt Knost put down a 9 under par round at the championship venue on a windy day that was just plain perfect. The galleries were treated to the antics of 8 tour professionals who enjoyed a fun round of golf while continually blasting each other with trash talk. PGA Tour champions Rory Sabbatini was a great instigator as was Harrison Frazar who sported a pair of shiny irridescent bronze golf shoes. Mark Brooks, past PGA Champion, held his own both on the course and with trading barbs.
The Invitational raised funds for The Ben Hogan Foundation that sponsors various charities in the Fort Worth area including The First Tee Program, Folds of Honor, Camp Bronco, and the Cook County Medical Center. The Ben Hogan Foundation plans to build the first Ben Hogan Learning Center in Fort Worth at the Rockwood Municipal Golf Course Complex. Already, a new practice area has been established that includes a large grass tee as well as mats, a putting green and deep sand bunker area. Also, a nine hole junior course is operational. The site of the building has already been marked off and a large rendering is displayed on an outdoor sign located next to the site. Contributions can be made at their website, www.BenHoganFoundation.org. I will upload some images in a later post.
Now, look at the prize trophy. It was made from an actual cast of Ben Hogan hands holding onto a golf club. The details are perfect and the professionals were simply playing for this coveted trophy. The respect for Mr. Hogan was evident throughout the event and especially when talking about winning this trophy. I took multiple photos of the 8 pounds of crystal in order to preserve the moment and be able to later do a detailed study of Mr. Hogan's grip. I will post that study here at a later date.
Also, on Sunday night before the tournament the two Foundations held a wonderful 'White Hot Gala' event. I'll share some of my photos of that event later. Everything was in white including everyone's attire for the eventing. The big suprise was watching 3 large (6'x6') paintings completed in the space of a half hour and later auctioned off to happy attendees.
More to come!
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