Saturday, Jul. 24, 2010

Area golf column: Turner Sports' Huber to visit Grand Strand

The battle against prostate cancer led Emmy Award-winning Turner Sports essayist and commentator Jim Huber to develop a bond with Arnold Palmer, and it is leading him to the Grand Strand for a couple events in the next five weeks.

Huber is the 2010 national spokesman for the Know Your Score: Fight Prostate Cancer campaign, and he'll be appearing in that capacity at two events sponsored by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday.

Golf Holiday and ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer - are teaming up to offer free screenings for men in the area in a Drive Against Prostate Cancer event from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday at the Martin's PGA Tour Superstore location at 2310 Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach.

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• Monday Q&A | Clinic offers free prostate cancer test

  Monday Q&A | Clinic offers free prostate cancer test

  Men, put away your excuses and take a step toward good health.

  ZERO - the Project to End Prostate Cancer, along with Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, is hosting the Know Your Score: Fight Prostate Cancer Mobile Screening Clinic today in North Myrtle Beach. The van will be open at Martin's PGA Tour Superstore, 2310 U.S. 17 S., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  The 40-foot screening van will be making its third visit to the area to give free PSA blood tests to screen for the disease. The process takes about five minutes and will save participants about $200, the average cost of the test in a doctor's office. Results will be sent to each person in four to six weeks.

• Area golf column: Longtime Golf Holiday exec headed to Golf Channel

  Area golf column: Longtime Golf Holiday exec headed to Golf Channel

  O ne of the key contributors over the past 13 years to the marketing and promotion of Myrtle Beach and its golf offerings is leaving Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday to work for Golf Channel.

  Steve Mays, the senior director of marketing for the marketing cooperative for the past several years, begins working for Golf Channel on Monday as one of three directors of travel and tourism sales.

  He'll be selling advertising for Golf Channel's events and holdings including the television station, website and tee time site Golfnow.com .

• Living it up: Yelton does not let cancer stop streak at World Amateur

  Living it up: Yelton does not let cancer stop streak at World Amateur

  Prostate cancer is serious business.

  So, too, is the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship, especially when you have played in all 26 World Ams entering this week's event on nearly 60 Grand Strand courses.

  So when Don Yelton of Shelby, N.C., was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May, his first impulse was to postpone the surgery until he played in his 27th consecutive World Am.

• Golf column: Father-Son Classic filled to capacity again

  Golf column: Father-Son Classic filled to capacity again

  T he 13 th annual Martin's PGA Tour Superstore National Father & Son Team Classic has reached its established capacity for 2010, so there is expected to be a full field of 570 two-person teams teeing off on 12 Grand Strand courses from July 22-24.

  Robert Harper, a tournament owner and operator, said Friday there are seven teams on a waiting list that will likely get into the event as teams withdraw.

  "We always have cancellations down the stretch," Harper said. "It's standard that every year we lose anywhere from eight to 12 teams the week of the event. The 570 number is where we want to be."

• Alan Blondin on Grand Strand Golf: Deer Track North Course case extended

  Alan Blondin on Grand Strand Golf: Deer Track North Course case extended

  Homeowners around the former Deer Track North Course are awaiting a second ruling by a judge before determining if they'll file an appeal of his recent ruling that would allow the property's owners to redevelop the course.

  Retired circuit court judge Thomas Cooper, acting as a special referee approved by attorneys in the case, ruled in February against a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of residents around the North Course.

  The lawsuit, initially filed by four of approximately 450 homeowners around the 183-acre course in September 2006, has been holding up redevelopment and claimed the homeowners had an easement requiring the land remain a course.The homeowners were given 30 days to appeal in the state court system. But attorney David Miller of the Bellamy Law Firm, who represents the homeowners, filed a motion to reconsider, asking Cooper to either alter his decision or review and possibly clarify some of the particulars of the ruling "so an appeal would go forward on good faith," Miller said.A hearing

The Drive Against Prostate Cancer features a mobile medical bus where local licensed physicians conduct a two-part early detection procedure consisting of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and a physical exam. Men are encouraged to receive a PSA number that can be regularly checked and compared to detect abnormalities. More than 100,000 men have been tested in the bus since the program started in 2002.

Huber will also participate on his birthday Aug. 28 in the Know Your Score Links & Laughs celebrity golf tournament and gala/comedy show. Golf will be held at Long Bay Club and the gala at Embassy Suites Kingston Plantation Resort.

"It's been an interesting year," Huber said. "I've done an awful lot of television, radio and newspaper interviews all over the country talking about [prostate cancer]. It's been really good for me."

Huber is the third Know Your Score spokesman in three years, having followed Ken Griffey Sr. and Jim Boeheim. He was asked to be Boeheim's successor by Conway resident, actor, sports announcer and prostate cancer survivor Mitch Laurance.

"I've known Mitch Laurance for years, and I think because of our friendship he asked me to follow in Jim Boeheim's footsteps, which is tough to do but I was honored," Huber said.

Baseball legend Ken Griffey Sr. and jazz musician Branford Marsalis are expected to participate in the Aug. 28 golf tournament, and will be joined by other celebrities who will be named in the coming weeks.

Comedians booked to perform at the gala are Bobby Collins, Daniel Forestier (aka Mutzie) and Karen Mills. Golf is $100 per person and the gala is $100, and a four-player team cost of $800 includes eight gala tickets. Players can register at knowyourscoreMB.com. A 350-ticket raffle for 13 prizes will also be held, with tickets costing $150 each. Prizes include an all-expense paid South African safari, Pittsburgh Steelers weekend, Chicago and New York multi-sport adventures, and four passes to the PGA Tour Championship.

Huber has been a newspaper reporter in Miami and Atlanta, spent seven years at an Atlanta television station and 16 years as an anchor and feature sports reporter at CNN, and has spent the past decade at other Turner Broadcasting stations including TNT. He has won an Emmy and the Edward R. Murrow award for excellence in writing.

Huber has never been diagnosed with prostate cancer. But his father, Bob, a mailman in Florida, was in the 1990s about the same time Palmer was diagnosed.

"I was covering Palmer at the time and we kind of developed an inter-family relationship that was very strange, and my father thought of it as kind of an honor that Arnold would check on his numbers and see how he was doing," Huber said.

Palmer asked Huber what his PSA numbers were, as well. "I said, 'I have no idea,' " Huber recalled. "He said, 'You'd better find out; it can be life or death.' Through Palmer I got the urgency of knowing what your numbers are. When you get older it's so easy to do and so important because if you catch it early enough, it's pretty beatable."

Huber's father died in 1999, but was free of cancer at the time of his death.

According to ZERO, more than 217,000 men in 2010 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 32,050 will die from the disease. Studies have shown regular PSA blood testing reduces prostate cancer deaths by 44 percent.

Break out the Big Dog

If you think you hit it long, you might want to see how you stack up from 2-9:30 p.m. next Saturday at the Barefoot Resort & Golf Driving Range.

Barefoot is hosting a Long Drivers of America local qualifier for the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship held each year in Mesquite, Nev. At the finals, competitors from more than 100 countries will vie for a purse of approximately $500,000.

There are six age divisions for men and a women's division. Men age 44 or younger compete in the open division, while Seniors are 45-49 and division increase in increments of five years through the 65-and-up Masters.

A participant receives six balls per attempt, each attempt is $40 and the number of attempts is unlimited. No pre-registration is required at local qualifiers, so participants can just show up and tee it up. Spectators can view the competition from the driving range or its lounge and restaurant.

Drives must land and stop inside a 45-yard wide grid. Slazenger golf balls are used, shaft lengths can be no longer than 50 inches, and driver heads must be on the USGA's conforming list.

Competitors from 21 states in three Long Drivers of America regions are eligible, and three competitors advance to the regional finals for every 16 entered in their category. Regionals cost $75 for LDA members and $150 for non-members. Visit Longdrivers.com or call 1-888-233-4654 for more information.

In conjunction with the Super Qualifier, a Power Instruction Clinic will be conducted by DynaSwingFIT Golf teaching pro Shelby Smith from 10-11 a.m. Friday at the Barefoot driving range. It will feature the key elements of power in the swing, simple drills for power and consistency (with a booklet), and a mental focus drill. The Zelocity Electronic Launch Monitor will allow golfers to see their ball-striking numbers of clubhead speed, ball velocity, spin rate, launch angle and distance.

The monitor will also be available for the public and competitors Saturday afternoon, along with demo drivers from major manufacturers and a silent auction for golf rounds, art and accessories.

The suggested donation for the Friday clinic is $20 and proceeds from the clinic and auction benefit Myrtle Beach area junior golf and youth development organizations.

S.C. champion possible

A 15-year-old girl from Goose Creek just might surprise herself and just about everyone else and win the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship today.

Katelyn Dambaugh, playing in her first USGA championship, has reached today's scheduled 36-hole championship match at the Country Club of North Carolina and will face Doris Chen, 17, of Bradenton, Fla.

Chen, who lost to Kimberly Kim in last year's semifinals and ousted stroke-play medalist Danielle Kang of California in Friday morning's quarterfinals, said she entered expecting to win her final U.S. Girls Junior.

Dambaugh, who is aiming to become the first female left-handed USGA champion in history, entered with little expectations, and reached the finals with a 7 and 6 waxing of 17-year-old Ally McDonald of Fulton, Miss., in the semifinals. "I just wanted to make the cut, that was my goal," Dambaugh told a USGA official. "And now I'm here."

Sunbelt Tour represented

The Grand Strand-based Sunbelt Senior Tour has 17 former tour participants participating in this week's Senior British Open at Carnoustie, and 15 competing in next week's U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee Country Club.

Among those double-dipping in both events Senior major championships are Mike Goodes, Gary Hallberg, Gene Jones and James Mason. Cancer survivor Bob Boyd of Wilmington, N.C., is among those playing this week, and Mike Lawrence of Easley will be playing next week.