OILMAN'S TOURNAMENT-PARTY.... A SUCCESS

Friday, July 19, 2013

OILMAN'S TOURNAMENT-PARTY.... A SUCCESS

The day was sunny and warm, and nothing like the beginning of the week when thunderstorms and constant rain would have made this tournament impossible to happen.

Thirty six teams (144 players) made up the field for the annual Oilman's Tournament... with dozens of volunteers and thirteen, yes, thirteen companies who came to cook and offer drinks for all the participants. You could literally be on any hole and drive you cart a few yards and get a bbq rib, or a sausage or a steak and anything in between, or bottled water or soft drinks, and gifts. From 6:30 a.m. to the time the players were finished at 3:30 p.m., you could have breakfast, lunch and then an early dinner.

And, of course, as in every tournament here, you could hear music across every fairway from the various carts who have radios, or from the vendors themselves. In Western Oklahoma there is no, "quiet please, I'm hitting" fore shouts. There is only smiles, golf, camaraderie, friendships, all accompanies by fairly music and a little golf. Scrambles are parties, and whether the prizes are $10,000 or $1,000, the music never stops in Elk City. You want quiet during your round? Don't come to Elk City; you want to attend a party and have fun? This is the place.

In this tournament, no one leaves the course without some sort of gift. In addition to the "goodie bag" which includes gifts totaling $50 or more, the players come back to the clubhouse to the biggest drawing held at Elk City Golf & C.C. every year courtesy of phone calls, and phone calls by Andy Blankenship (tournament director), James Atkinson and all of their friends. This year, there were easily $25,000 or more of gifts, you could win anywhere from a dozen of Titleist ProV1 balls, to many $300 clubs, sets of clubs, grills, TV's, and $50 to $500 gift certificates and more.

All of which makes the tournament prizes for the winners look small... but they aren't!

David Dyson (Barber-Dyson Ford) and Erika Elston, representing GPN Bank, led the drawing as soon as players finished while the tournaments winners were being determined at the back of the loud banquet room, all of which required the help of Andy Blankenship and James Atkinson and others, both, to call the winning tickets as well as calling teams who were in scorecard playoffs. But in the end, all worked out and we will have to wait to next year to see if the Andy, James, David and the folks from GPN Bank can outdo themselves.

The thirty six teams were divided in 4 flights, with three winners in each flight. There is no time for playoffs here., so if there is a tie, the winners are determined by a scorecard playoff starting at a hole drawn from the pile of scorecards by one of the players. This year, the flight break downs were as follows: "A" 56-60, "B" 61-63, "C" 64-66 and "D" 67 and over, and after all was finished, the winners were as follows: