Monday After Masters growing success story

By Alan Blondin of the Sun News

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH --Despite inconsistent weather that included sun and warmth in the morning, a spat of brief rain in the afternoon, and cool and windy conditions later in the day, the 14th annual Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am (a famous and popular North Myrtle Beach golf tournament) was again deemed a success by organizers.

The North Myrtle Beach event sold out at 6,000 tickets - in addition to children being admitted free with ticketed adults - for the third consecutive year. The North Myrtle Beach golf event should approach or surpass the $450,000 it has raised in each of the past two years for junior golf and education charities.

"It's been very successful," tournament director Paul Graham said. "We're very pleased with everything. We had tons of volunteers who all did a great job. We had thousands of people out here today, and I've gotten nothing but positive responses from everybody."

For the first time since it moved to Myrtle Beach in 2003 the event didn't include popular golfer John Daly, but it did include PGA Tour rookie Dustin Johnson of Myrtle Beach, and a host of other pro golfers, celebrities, musicians and athletes.

Participants included golfers Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Woody Austin, Chris DiMarco, Jim Thorpe and Lee Elder, and athletes Dan Marino, Bernie Kosar, Gale Sayers, Sterling Sharpe, Kordell Stewart, Chuck Finley and Ken Griffey Sr.

Daly was unable to participate for the first time in many years due to a rib injury, but still had an impact on the event. Daly, a fan favorite who annually provides inebriated shenanigans, purchased Hootie & The Blowfish's original decked out touring van during the event's auction two years ago for $165,000, according to tournament media director Susan Graham.

Because he couldn't make this year's event, he donated the van back to the band, and it was auctioned off for $95,000 to Mount Pleasant attorney Joe Rice, who Daly outbid two years ago.

Johnson, a former Coastal Carolina Chanticleer, played for the first time and was paired with South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier for about 15 holes before Spurrier headed back to Columbia. Not everything about the event was new to Johnson, however.

One of his amateur partners was Nat Hardwick, an Atlanta attorney and South Carolina grad with a 9 handicap who played in the same group with Johnson in the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this year. "I enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun," said Johnson, who met Spurrier for the first time. "If I can make it, I'll definitely play in it [again]."

Caddie Brad Sill, a 17-year-old from Spartanburg, replaced Spurrier in the group for the final few holes. "People told me I might get to hit a shot or something, but I didn't think I'd actually get to play a couple holes," Sill said. "Dustin is pretty good. He can kill the ball. On the second hole he hit it about 365 [yards]."

Included in the gallery was Ian Wilkinson, of Darlington, County Durham, England, along with his wife and son. He was on the Grand Strand to visit Hootie drummer Jim Sonefeld, whom he met in a bar in Manchester, England, when the band was touring in support of its first album.

"They were playing on their first tour in England and obviously not too many people in England knew who they were," Wilkinson said. "The show was quite full, but there weren't too many people who knew what they looked like."

Wilkinson and Sonefeld kept in touch after their meeting, and Wilkinson has visited Sonefeld in South Carolina five times in the past nine years. But it's the first time he has attended the MAM.

"If the weather's nice, the golf is a nice walk around the course, get some fresh air and meet some nice people, and of course the concert is good fun, so it's a nice way to end the weekend," Wilkinson said.

Not all of the spectators traveled as far, of course, including one of the tournament's biggest support groups - a gathering of about 10 people that included the owners of Foster's Cafe & Bar and several of their patrons. The group has occupied the same area behind the first tee for the past five years, and a picture of the group hamming it up with Daly hangs in the bar.

"It's just a good day out," Foster's owner Don Fonda said. "And it's fun to see how many people will hack it off the first tee."

ONLINE | To view Blondin's blog, 'Green Reading', or Q&A Forum 'Ask Al,' go to MyrtleBeachOnline.com.