Larry Fleming: Sights are set a little lower

Published 11:40 pm Saturday, May 9, 2009

When it comes to raising charitable funds for disbursement in Whitfield and Murray counties, nothing quite compares to the Roman Open golf tournament at the Dalton Golf and Country Club.

From its meager beginning when the tournament raised $300 to help build a new Catholic church, the Roman Open has blossomed into a money-making machine, which has been blessed over the years by generous corporate sponsors right down to the every-day golfer who forks over the $150 entry fee (it’s $600 for a four-person team) to enjoy a morning or afternoon — in some cases both — of golf.

In May 2008, with the country’s economy slipping into the tank, the tournament raised a record $84,000 and distributed that money to 22 charities, plus two memorial scholarships to Dalton State College. Three years earlier, a record field of 240 golfers participated and in 2006 former Atlanta Braves reliever John Rocker added a little star power to the event.

Vince Piccola, who came to Dalton from Pennsylvania and has been involved with the tournament since its second year of existence in 1976, recently recalled that the first tourney had 30 players.





“The second tournament,” said the now 81-year-old Piccola who continues to serve on the Roman Open Charities board and as tournament chairman, “paid for the roof on the church.”

Now, as another board member puts it, the tournament has become like “a small business in its own right.”

Since 1999, the Roman Open has distributed $598,000 to numerous charities in Whitfield and Murray counties, $299,000 of which has come in the last four years.

For the past few years, Corterra Polymers has served as the primary corporate sponsor, along with DGCC, providing a substantial jump start to the fundraising effort, although board members don’t like to say exactly how much the name sponsorship puts in the coffer.

This year, however, Corterra Polymers is out of business, but board members already are working on lining up a sponsor for 2010. Sprint PCS was the first name sponsor to get on board a few years ago and that’s when the tournament’s ability to raise “big bucks” shifted into high gear.

Still, 61-year-old Terry Moore, a longtime board member, said back in April that the board hoped to challenge the $84,000 raised in 2008 at this year’s one-day tourney.

Board chairman David McCreery, said the other day those hopes probably will have to be scaled back since player participation numbers are lagging. Coupled with the missing name sponsor, that’s a sure sign the final financial tally may come up short of what the tournament has recently been able to raise.

“We’re ready to go,” said McCreery, who for the past three years has served as president of Roman Open Charities. “We would like to have a few more players, but we’re ready.”

McCreery said 120 players had registered to play as of Friday, but if anyone is interested in signing up they can do so by this afternoon by just calling the country club. It’s the last call, however.

“The country club can add players without our permission,” McCreery said. “The field for this year’s tournament is about half what we’ve been having, but everyone running tournaments is experiencing the same thing because of the economy. The bottom line is that we’re probably going to give away about 10 to 15 percent less money from this year’s tournament. Still, we’ve got a lot of businesses donating money and they’ve been very generous. We’ve just got to deal with what we’ve got. It’s disappointing but not totally unexpected.”

The highlight of last year’s tournament was James Keith’s hole-in-one — first in tournament history — on the par-3, 167-yard 16th hole. For one swing with a 23-degree rescue club, Keith, won a Cadillac Escalade with his first ace.

But he didn’t keep the car. Instead, he put the luxury vehicle up for auction on eBay and sold it for “a little under the sticker price of $69,000.”

Despite the lower expectations the tournament will go on. A bunch of volunteers will arrive at the country club around 6 a.m. Monday and play begins two hours later. The afternoon action will get under way at 1:30 p.m. Players and volunteers will still have fun. But instead of finishing around 7 p.m., play is likely to end a couple of hours earlier because the afternoon field, which routinely is sold out, won’t be as large.

“When it’s over we might all be dog tired,” McCreery said, “but we’ll be gratified because of what we’ve helped accomplish, and that’s to help make sure the tournament continues to help our community. It’s a great feeling when you can help the needy of this community.”