Inaugural alumni golf classic is a success

Chilly temperatures and an early morning frost delay wasn’t enough to hold up the inaugural Lee University Alumni Golf Classic.

Kicking off the Homecoming festivities in a fun fashion, The Classic, hosted by Chatata Valley Golf Course, consisted of 50 golfers in a four-man team scramble format where each team played the best shot from each location until the ball is holed.

“I was very pleased with the turnout for the first ever Alumni Golf Classic,” said Adam Lowe, director of the Annual Alumni Fund and tournament coordinator. “Our goal for the first year was 50 participants and we hit our mark.”

The golf tournament drew a wide variety of both recent Lee graduates and seasoned alumni from all across the country.

“We wanted something Friday morning where the alumni could come together, relax and have a good time,” Lowe said. “What better way to do that then a morning on the golf course?”

This year’s tournament also drew past members of the Lee men’s golf team. The most recent of these graduates was 2009 student-athlete Wes Nobles; the eldest of these was 1983 graduate Bob Collins who traveled from Pelham, Ala., for the golf team reunion.

“It was a good tournament,” Collins said. “Due to the cold weather though I wish we would have started later.”

Echoing a similar positive sentiment, Nobles said, “I had a great time on the course today. It was a great opportunity to catch up and have fun with some old college buddies.”

At the end of the day, however, when the dew had thawed, the four-man team of Ryan Hulton, Josh Coley, Neil Scott and Jared Baldwin took home the first place trophy and prizes with an 18-under-par score of 54, a score that bested the second place team by two strokes.