FAKIER OPEN RETURNS

Last year’s Fakier Open was amazing theatre, which climaxed in the most dramatic way possible when Blake Redmond took home the tournament title after eight sudden death playoff holes of golf.

Event organizers and golf pros vowed this year’s event will be just as fun, assuming, of course, that Mother Nature gets out of the way and lets it all take place.

The annual tournament is slated to begin this week at Ellendale Country Club – the local course that’s hosted the professional tournament for the past decade-plus.

The opening round is scheduled to begin on Wednesday morning with a morning and afternoon flight of tees. It will climax on Saturday afternoon – weather permitting.

Course officials at Ellendale said the course is holding up as best as possible, considering the past week’s rain. If the course can get about 24-36 hours of sunshine before the event, it should be prime for action, according to workers maintaining the grounds Thursday afternoon.

As has been the case in the past several years, the 2015 event will be part of the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series, and the tournament will benefit the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC.

The total purse for the pros totals $100,000 with $15,000 going home to the winner.

“We love Houma. It’s a really good community that they have on the golf course out there,” Adams Golf Pro Tour Series Director Kris Neal said. “There are so many volunteers and spectators and everything else out there. Your area’s hospitality is just unreal. The support that we get is great. It keeps us coming back.”

The dynamic play on the course probably has to do with the turnout and volunteerism of people in our area.

The competitors on the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series are top-notch when it comes to aspiring pro golfers looking to get their big break. The tour has a long list of alumni, who have ascended and have reached the PGA Tour.

“The play here is very competitive,” veteran Adams Golf Pro Tour Series golfer Bill Allcorn said. “You have a lot of guys out here who are very gifted and who can post really low scores on any given round.”

Of course, the most famous alumni of the series is Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters Champion, who played on the tour in his early days as a professional.

Most don’t know that Watson actually played in the Houma event in 2005. As one might expect, he blitzed the field and scored a dominant runaway victory, which helped to jump-start his career to his current position of fame.

Redmond hopes to be the next Adams Gold Pro Tour Series player to take that next step and advance his career to new heights.

The 2014 champion will be back for more this year, touting that Ellendale is a top-notch facility that is one of his favorite spots on the tour.

Neal agreed and said that the tour loves its stop in Houma.

“The course is really nice, and the people really do a lot to make you feel welcomed around the city,” Redmond said. “That hospitality means a lot, and it allows you to sort-of settle yourself in and play your best golf as a golfer.”

“The Fakier Open is always one of our preferred destinations,” Neal added. “It’s one of the stops that I think that we look forward to the most as an organization, but the players also look forward to, as well. The food isn’t too bad, either. You guys have a lot of that down there, as well, obviously.”

The event also has the best price possible for fans. It’s free.

As always, fans wishing to attend any of the four days of action are welcomed to do so free of charge. This past Monday, golfers on the tour gave back to the city of Houma by hosting a free junior clinic open to all golfers ages 6-16.

A Pro-Am Tournament was also scheduled to take place yesterday morning, weather permitting.

“We really take pride in being a family friendly tour that allows people in a community to get more of a hands-on feel with the golfers,” Neal said. “We do lots of things throughout the week to get people involved and to make sure that the people who attend have a good time. It’s more laid back than what you’d see at a PGA Tour event. The people who come out almost always leave satisfied after having a really nice day on the golf course watching some of our players play.”

For leaderboard results after each day of the Fakier Open, check our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HoumaTimes.

Believe it or not, but players on the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series probably hope it rains all weekend.

Of course, they want sunshine today through Saturday so the event can go on without a hitch. But a damp course often favors players and allows for birdies to be made.

In golf, success most often comes to the player who can best control the flight of the golf ball in the air.

On a dry course that’s lacked rain, the ground often gets hard. On a hard course, the ball is more difficult to control because golfers have to account for both distance in the air and also the distance that the ball will travel after it bounces and rolls.

On the greens, putts on a dry course will also be much quicker and more difficult to read, which often produces scores that are unfavorable to the players.

“Weather is everything in the game of golf,” Houma native and frequent golfer Tom Adams said this week. “You can play a course on a day when it’s dry and then play it the next day when it’s wet and it’ll be like you played two completely different courses. The conditions make all of the difference in the world.”

On wet conditions, the element of luck is somewhat eliminated fom the sport. On soggy ground, the ball has much less roll and it stops close to where it lands.

Knowing that gives golfers much more control over their shots, which allows for closer approach shots, which ultimately leads to better scorecard scores.

On the PGA Tour, golfers often want to be the first players to tee off in the early morning because the dew perspiration from the night before provides softer ground and better scores than when the sun comes out and fairways and greens dry out.

“I rather a soft course,” Adams said. “I think nine out of 10 would say the same. That just provides conditions that make it much easier to score and make birdies.”

WHAT DOES RAIN DO TO A GOLF COURSE?

‘We love Houma. It’s a really good community that they have on the golf course out there…. The support that we get is great. It keeps us coming back.’

Kris Neal

Adams Golf Pro Tour Series Director

Adams Golf Pro Tour Series golfer Bill Allcorn lines up a putt during a tournament last season. The professional golfer is one of many who will be in Houma this week for the Annual Fakier Open, which is set to begin today at Ellendale Country Club. Admission to the tournament is free, and fans will be treated to a fan-friendly, fun environment, according to Kris Neal, the Director of the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series.

COURTESY PHOTO