By Sandy Johnson

The Honda Classic Golf Tournament at PGA National Resort and Spa brings excitement, great golf and a major financial impact on our area every year. Last year alone, the Classic awarded a record $2.55 million in charitable contributions! This went to 136 organizations, with the Jack Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation the primary benefactor. Much of the reason for this is the amazing number of volunteers who donate thousands of hours of their time to keep the tournament running smoothly. All of these volunteers wouldn’t be effective without the organization of Jim Coleman, who has been the Volunteer Chairperson for many years.

Working close by his side is his 19-year-old daughter Samantha. Sammy has been at this since she was 6 years old. She has been everything from a standard bearer to a caddy bib distributor, to her current position as her Dad’s right hand “man.” This year, she had the added chore of helping to direct people to safety when a massive storm with pouring rain came through on Saturday, forcing everyone off the course and out of all the hospitality suites. Every person had to be relocated into the main clubhouse, which was the only safe, permanent structure. Sammy calmly took on this unexpected task. She not only volunteers with her dad at the Honda, but also the Allianz, Doral, ADT and other local events. When she was still in high school, she had so many thousands of service hours that she just stopped counting. The best part of all this is the fact that she is now in college at Palm Beach State studying Business Management and then is transferring to Florida Gulf University where she will get her degree in PGA Golf Management.

Asked about her favorite moments, she said it was when senior player Chi Chi Rodriquez insisted that she ride in the cart with him, instead of walking with the standard. He then autographed his name card, which she framed and still has hanging in her room. She also loved it when Ben Crane, a current player with a huge following (of the younger set due to his Golf Boys video that he has made with three of the other young golfers), asked her if she would pose for a picture with him.

Sammy was on the Honda course on Monday when the delayed tournament continued and ended up with the exciting playoff between Padraig Harrington from Ireland and a PGA rookie local boy Daniel Berger from Jupiter. Padraig won on the second playoff, but it made for a nail biting ending with all of Daniel’s family there cheering him on.

An interesting side note on the tournament was some of the consequences of the massive rain storm. When the crew went out to try and get everything back in shape for the next day, they had to contend with chasing alligators and water moccasin snakes that were now on the course! Saturday was cancelled and Sunday tee times were delayed. It was a massive undertaking for Chairman Jim and Sammy to contact and reschedule all the volunteers for the new times and also the extra day that had to be added on. They took it in stride and all went perfectly.

Perhaps the best quote of the tournament came from Lukus Harvey, director of PGA National agronomy, when asked how in the world his staff managed working all day and night to get the course ready to play again by Sunday afternoon — “It is only stressful if you make it that way!” That’s an adage for all of us to live by!

By Gary Curreri

Joe Patchen wouldn’t have it any other way.

The 88-year-old Pompano Beach man plays golf three times a week and doesn’t plan on stopping soon.

Patchen is still pretty good at his craft because he recently used his 6-iron and recorded his sixth hole-in-one on the Par-3, 134-yard 15th hole at the Pines Course at the Pompano Municipal Golf Course.

“This one was nice because of the six hole-in-ones I have. This was only the second one that I saw go in the hole,” added Patchen, who was playing in a Pompano Beach Men’s Golf Association tournament and picked up a second place finish with a net score of 67. “It bounced twice and went in. I was feeling good that day.”

Patchen, who plays on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, said he enjoys both the camaraderie with the other golfers and the competition. He said he called his hole-in-one.

“I was talking to my playing partner and said it was about time one of us got a hole-in-one and I did,” Patchen said. “It was exciting because we had just talked about it.”

Patchen began playing in New York when he was 12 and hasn’t stopped. His last hole-in-one came three years ago.

“I have been caddying and playing golf,” Patchen said. “I play three days a week. I love golf because it is a challenge. Every single day is different. Every single shot is different. It is not the same thing day after day after day. I never know what is going to be happening that day.”

Patchen said his singular shot was a lucky one.

“I think it’s luck,” Patchen said. “We all throw the whole ball at the hole and for it to go in that little hole, I think it is luck. When you figure how many years I have been playing, 76 years … I must have thrown a million shots at those holes and only got six of them.”

Patchen believes he has a lot of golf left. He idolizes Jack Nicklaus, who he said was the best golfer he ever saw.

“I am going to keep going until I can’t play anymore,” Patchen said. “I look forward to it. I get up at 5 in the morning and have my coffee and breakfast, and go out and play golf. I just like the game. Now that I am retired, I play it a lot. I play in all kinds of weather, but I can be a little particular. If it is raining, I don’t go out. If it is cold, I don’t go out.”

Ely in Final Four

Blanche Ely’s boys’ basketball team will hope to end its season on a high note – a perfect one at that.

The Tigers remained undefeated at 26-0 and are ranked 6th nationally. Blanche Ely advanced to Thursday’s Class 7A state semifinal against North Port at the Lakeland Center with a 79-65 victory over Miami Central. A victory will mean a third state championship in four years. It would also mark the first undefeated season for the Tigers basketball program.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Karen Ondo has only played in the Broward Women’s Amateur Golf Tournament a handful of times; however, she is happy she did this year as she and 65 other women braved the miserable weather at the recent tournament at Jacaranda Golf Club in Plantation.

Ondo, 66, won First Flight of the tournament with a twoday total of 158. She was also the top low net player in her Flight with a 5-under par, 138. The First Flight played shorter distances than the Championship Flight. Plantation’s Ann Fulginiti, 61, captured the Champ i o n s h i p Flight when she carded a two-day total of 162.

“I never keep track of my score,” Ondo said. “I know if I am doing okay or not doing okay. To me, it is the course and me. I think it is a challenge. I love it.”

Ondo, who was previously VP of Communications for Broward Health and now consults in health industry, didn’t play last year. She wasn’t sure if she was going to play this year, as she was a last minute entrant as she drove two straight days from her North Carolina summer home to make the tournament.

“I had no expectations,” Ondo said. “I was surprised when I saw the scoreboard (after the first day). I was shocked. My strength is my putting, my driver and my irons so it really set up nice for me.”

Ondo has been playing golf for 19 years. She said there was too much business being done on the golf course and wanted to be good enough to play in the charity tournaments so she took lessons and told her boss at the time (Richard Schirey) that she was going to hit the links.

“I said I am playing in this tournament and he said, ‘you don’t play golf’ and I said, ‘yes I do.’ So he made me go out and play with him and I beat him on the front nine of Inverrary and he said, ‘I think you can play golf.’ He bought me a windbreaker that day,” she said. “I’m happy about winning this,” Ondo said. “I’m great. It’s great the way the tournament turned out. It was iffy for me to even sign up because I knew we were just getting back from North Carolina. When I saw the weather today, I thought maybe they’d call it and just tell us to go eat lunch. The weather actually was better today than it was the first day.”

Pompano Beach High School’s girls volleyball team came up short in its bid for a Class 5A state title when it fell in the regional finals to visiting Merritt Island, 25-18, 25-17, 16-25, 26-24.

Despite the loss, it was the farthest the Tornadoes had ever gone in a season following previous losses in the regional semifinals, including last season to Cardinal Gibbons (25-17, 25-18, 25-22, 25- 15). Pompano Beach defeated rival Cardinal Gibbons three times this season en route to a 23-7 mark.

“I told them to be proud of what we accomplished,” said Pompano Beach coach William Strachan. “It was a good year. They (Merritt Island) just outhustled us.”

Pompano Beach junior Cassidy Bonito led the Tornadoes with 24 digs, 23 assists and 13 kills, while Casey Calhoun added 27 digs and 23 assists.

By Gary Curreri

Rain failed to dampen the spirits of a sellout crowd of 244 golfers and netted an estimated $25,000 for the 7th annual Frankie Foundation golf tournament recently at the Woodlands Country Club in Tamarac.

The event, which withstood a 40-minute rain delay, raises money and awareness for Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and honors Frankie Speciale, who died of a massive heart attack while playing in a recreational men’s soccer league match in Deerfield Beach in 2007.

Even though the 1982 graduate of Pompano Beach High School was given CPR immediately, his life could not be saved. It is believed an automated external defibrillator might have made the difference in him surviving.

Frankie Foundation President Scott Henratty, 42, of Lighthouse Point, said the popular tournament has grown over the years. The first tournament at Colony West drew a capacity crowd of 144 golfers. It then moved to Palm Aire Country Club in Pompano before ClubLink, owners of both Palm Aire and Woodlands, suggested the tournament move to Woodlands because its banquet facility can accommodate the 244 golfers.

“We maxed out,” said Henratty, who gave out five AEDs and four $1,000 scholarships at the tournament. To date, they have given out 25 scholarships and 48 AED units. “We have been sold out for a while. We sell out every year. We believe we put on a quality tournament. The main sponsor is One Beat CPR.”

Henratty also said he can’t understand why there isn’t a statewide law requiring AED in public places.

“The idea is, ‘why isn’t that a state-wide law?’” Henratty said. “The frustration is that we can give 5 or 6 AEDs away, and they save lives, but why aren’t they everywhere? If you are in an airport, or a governmental building, you are okay, but if you don’t have one someplace else, you could be in trouble. We are going to draft a bill that basically requires an establishment opening to the public an AED on the premises; that costs less than $1,000 as a safety feature.”

“Long ago, they didn’t require fi re extinguishers; now they do,” Henratty added. “Things have progressed where they know they save lives and they should be everywhere. An AED is like a fi re extinguisher or anything else. It is a proven fact that they save lives and they are in most buildings and most airplanes; but they are not in private facilities.”

Coconut Creek’s Jason Cheshire, 42, is a treasurer with Frankie Foundation. He said they are set up with the schools and they know their criteria.

“It can go to any athlete and it is a $1,000 scholarship,” Cheshire said. “We have a committee that will review them and we chose our winner from that. Anybody can apply and we look for the person who needs them … the one who needs help.”

By Gary Curreri

Although Lighthouse Point’s Linda Kenoyer doesn’t have an official handicap, she at least shares something in common with her professional golfer daughter Stefanie.

The 64-year-old Kenoyer recently picked up her firstever hole-in-one when she hit a 9-iron, 95 yards to ace the Par-3 hole at the Winding Hills Country Club in Montgomery, NY.

“It was pretty crazy,” said Kenoyer, who was visiting family in New York and was able to get away for a round of golf. “I’m not a great golfer, and Stefanie has three hole-in-ones, so, for me to do it, it was such an amazingly fluke thing.”

Kenoyer, who says she plays to about a 22 handicap, called it the “right club for the right distance” on the executive course.

“I kind of heard it and we walked up to look and see and I said, ‘I think it is in the hole. How did that happen?” said Kenoyer, who was playing with her husband Steve. “I hit it a little left of the hole and it kind of banked down. It rolled right in. I heard it hit the pin. It was exciting. We found the ball in the cup.”

“I didn’t expect myself to get one,” Kenoyer added. “It was a shock really. I hit the ball very cleanly. It was a good shot. It was a perfect connection. I was pretty lucky to get it to bank correctly and fall into the cup. It takes quite a lot of luck and some skill because it has to be the right club and the right distance.”

Stefanie, 24, a professional golfer on the Symetra Tour, and two-time participant on the Golf Channel’s Big Break television series during 2013, started playing golf 12 years ago and took lessons from Bob Loring, the head golf professional at the Pompano Beach Golf Course.

Linda Kenoyer also started playing golf at the same time and took a few lessons from Loring. She found it ironic that her daughter got her first hole-in-one at age 14, while she was 50-years older when she got her first. Stefanie had three career hole-in-ones.

“I’ve had very, very few lessons, just a couple of lessons,” Linda Kenoyer said. “I’ve gone out with Stefanie when she has been around and she’s given me some tips. I just never really had the time to take the lessons.”

Following her round, she sent a text to her daughter.

“It said, ‘you won’t believe this. I just got my first hole-in-one,’” the elder Kenoyer said. “She was all excited. I think all of my friends were more excited than I was. I guess it is a big deal in a lot of ways because you don’t know if you are going to get another one. That could be it for my whole life.”

She was surprised to find out a short time later that Stefanie made a post on her Facebook page congratulating her mother on her milestone.

“That was very nice,” Linda Kenoyer said. “It was very, very touching when she said how proud she was of me. It was very sweet and she wrote a nice post about it. It is so funny because we are always so proud of our kids and the things that they do, and we try and be supportive, so here it was in reverse. I thought it was a very thoughtful thing she did.”

By Gary Curreri

Special Correspondent

Pompano Beach’s Rita Melville called her first “official” hole-in-one an early Christmas present.

Melville, 71, had two previous hole-in-ones at the American Golfers Club in Ft. Lauderdale in the mid-1980s, but didn’t know she had to tell anyone.

The 67.5-acre, 18-hole executive course, which ran along the western boundary of the Coral Ridge Country Club, opened in 1958, but had been closed since late 2005, when its irrigation system was damaged and landscaping destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. Residential homes, a four-acre park and a practice range now occupy that space.

“It was quite an event,” said Melville, who recorded her recent hole-in-one on the Par- 3, 114-yard 11th hole on the Palms Course at the Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course two weeks before Christmas. She used a 5-wood. “It was a nice early Christmas present.”

“I was just trying to get it on the green,” said Melville, who was playing with Maureen Zolubos, Susana Rust and Nancy Kellermeyer in the Pompano Beach Women’s Golf Association’s weekly 9-hole league. “There is a bunker to the right and I usually go way left because of the bunker. This time, I decided to go for it because the pin position was better.”

Melville hit her shot and it landed short of the green and started straight for the hole.

“I sat there and watched it, not thinking for a minute that it was going to go in the hole,” Melville said. “It just rolled and rolled forever and finally it disappeared. The three girls I was playing with all started screaming and yelling and jumping up and down. I said it must have gone over the back of the green. I didn’t believe it until I looked and found it in the bottom of the hole.”

The Liverpool, England native retired in 2000 after enjoying a 31-year career in advertising. Melville played for about five years in the 1980s and gave it up. She just started playing again three years ago and now plays at least twice a week. She said her next goal is to get one on the other course so she can “prove it isn’t a fluke.”

“It is a lovely group of women,” said Melville, who is the vice president of the ladies league. “We play to have fun and enjoy the sport.

“I like that every hole is a new challenge,” Melville added. “You are competing against yourself and trying to be the best you can be. The thing about the ladies I play with is that they make it fun. We don’t take it too seriously. The social aspect is really nice as well as the game itself. Some of them have been playing all of their lives. We have women who are playing in the 80s and some in the 90s. They may not hit as long, but they hit it straight.”

By Gary Curreri

Lighthouse Point’s Stefanie Kenoyer is hoping the second time is a charm.

Kenoyer, 24, who was a contestant on Big Break Mexico earlier this year, will compete on Big Break NFL, which premieres on Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. on the Golf Channel.

“Not many people in our sport get this kind of opportunity to be on Big Break in the first place, let alone two Big Breaks in one year!” said Kenoyer, who was one of the more popular competitors on Big Break Mexico and was the sixth player eliminated from the series. “I’m blessed to have another opportunity to give it another go.”

Participating on two Big Break series this year was unique for Kenoyer. Big Break NFL Puerto Rico was shot the first two weeks of June while Big Break Mexico was airing on the Golf Channel. Her elimination episode on Big Break Mexico aired two weeks after she returned from Big Break NFL Puerto Rico.

“I have become an expert at keeping secrets, but this has been even tougher because I had to keep secret about not just one Big Break, but two,” joked Kenoyer, who was paired with 17-year NFL kicker Al DelGreco and Oren Geri in Big Break NFL. “All of the teams were full of great competitors! We had an absolute blast. I wouldn’t trade this experience in 2013 for the world.”

Big Break NFL Puerto Rico will be all about reunion, redemption and teamwork this fall when 12 previous Big Break competitors return to team up with six of the NFL’s all-time greats. Two past Big Break competitors – one male and one female, will join one NFL legend to form threeperson teams. The series will feature a new format twist to Big Break – teams will win or lose as teams. On the line will be $50,000 to the winning NFL legend’s designated charity, along with 2014 PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour tournament exemptions, cash and other prizes for the Big Break competitors.

“It is a pressure-packed, nerve racking situation every time you step out on the course on Big Break,” Kenoyer said. “When they called me and said, ‘we’d like to have you back,’ immediately, no questions asked, I said ‘yes’…to think I got to spend three weeks with six of some of the greatest football players there are was an incredible experience. There was no tackling on the golf course, thankfully; but we were all fierce competitors.”

NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football sideline reporter and Emmy Award-winner Michele Tafoya joins Golf Channel’s Tom Abbott to cohost Big Break NFL Puerto Rico. Serving as the backdrop will be the luxurious Dorado Beach Resort in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

“The pressure on Big Break is an all-time high because in a normal golf tournament, you have 54 holes or 72 holes to make up for your mistakes,” said Kenoyer, who played high school golf at Cardinal Gibbons and Westminster Academy high schools before playing collegiately at Furman University.

“On the show, you literally had one chance and your team is counting on you and everyone at home is watching, and you have 80 people around you with the crew and all of the cameras … and never have I felt more pressure, and I played in the U.S. Open.”

Kenoyer, the lone contestant on Big Break Mexico to have competed in a major championship – 2009 U.S. Women’s Open, said she

knows what it is like to play in front of large crowds and cameras; yet, this was a different experience altogether.

“I still felt my hands shake and my heart beat out of my chest,” said Kenoyer, who is playing full-time on the Symetra Tour with a refreshed sense of confidence and passion following the experience.

Taylor Collins, also 24, of Ft. Lauderdale, won Big Break Mexico when she defeated Tampa’s Matthew Galloway in an intense 18- hole singles match on the season finalé.

By Gary Curreri

Friends of Frankie keep turning out year after year.

The sixth annual Frankie Foundation Golf Tournament at Woodlands Country Club in Tamarac recently pulled in $75,000. In addition to the money raised, it also raised awareness for automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

The location may have moved during the six years of the annual Frankie Foundation Golf Tournament; however, one thing hasn’t changed – people still care. A record number of 242 golfers recently turned out for the tourney, whose proceeds go toward the purchase of AEDs and scholarships to local high school students.

“It was the most players ever by 12 and we had a waiting list of 30,” said Frankie Foundation Vice President Mike Goodrich, of Coral Springs. “The course is different and the banquet facility is different. We are excited about that because we were able to dress up the banquet facility and be able to accommodate all of us now, so the synergy we were able to generate there would continue what is coming off the course into there.”

Tammy Good, Shane Munson, Tracey Adcock and Dave Anderson carded a 59 to top all golfers on the east course, while Doug Kingera, Eric Depp, Hernan Millan, Hilarion Millan shot a 61 to win on the west course.

The tournament once again honored Frankie Speciale, who died of a massive heart attack while playing in a recreational men’s soccer league match in Deerfield Beach in 2007. Even though the 1982 graduate of Pompano Beach High School was given CPR immediately, his life could not be saved. It is believed an automated external defibrillator might have made the difference in him surviving.

Goodrich, who was a classmate of Speciale’s, said the tournament has grown over the years. The first tournament at Colony West drew a capacity crowd of 144 golfers. It then moved to Palm Aire Country Club in Pompano before ClubLink owners of both Palm Aire and Woodlands suggested the tournament move to Woodlands because its banquet facility can accommodate the 242 golfers.

“We’ve raised more than a half million dollars in six years,” Goodrich said. “We have given out more than 40 AEDs to cities, churches, charities, Kids in Distress, Sheridan House and other foundations.”

Goodrich said the Frankie Foundation still has the same sponsors and vendors since it started including One Step CPR, the presenting title sponsor. Goodrich said the scramble/best ball tournament is run totally by volunteers and all of the proceeds go toward the scholarships and AEDs.

Lon Rosen, of One Step CPR, hopes to generate awareness and teach people the importance of having a defibrillator at golf courses and different athletic events.

“People don’t even know what a defibrillator is,” Rosen said. “We are just scratching the surface. We want to send a message through the Frankie Foundation of what an AED [is].”

Rosen noted that Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 325,000 deaths each year, and that it claims a life every two minutes.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Donald Mann enjoys golf because of the challenge it presents and he doesn’t mind the scenery either. The 91-year-old Mann recently picked up his first ever hole-in-one on the Par-3,130-yard, 3rd hole at the newly renovated Greg Norman Pines course at the Pompano Municipal Golf Course.

Mann, who is a member of the Pompano Beach Men’s Golf Association, used his 28-degree, Hybrid 6 club and drove the ball within 30-35 feet of the Par-3, 130-yard, 3rd hole and watched it roll in the cup, much to the delight of his playing partners.

“It was a stroke of luck,” said Mann, a veteran of the Normandy Invasion. “I got a birdie on the next hole, so I was three under after two holes and I was thinking this game isn’t as difficult as I thought it was. Then, the wheels fell off and I started making bogeys and double bogeys.”

Mann, who takes lessons from Pompano golf pro T.J. Ziol, is originally from New Jersey and played golf as a youth, but gave it up for tennis. He took up golf again at age 70 after a 50-year hiatus. Mann said he is a 25-handicap now and has been as low as an 11. He hopes to get back there within the year.

“I’ve holed some wedges from the fairway, but this is my first hole-in-one,” Mann said. “The golf swing is a very complicated thing and I have been taking lessons. The thrill of hitting a very nice shot is a good feeling. “To some people, the professionals, they have 8, 9 or 10 holein- ones during their careers. It is a pretty small cup with a long way to go.”

Mann said he plays two to three times a week and enjoys the scenery and practicing. He also likes the commemorative plaque the PGA sent him for his feat.

“The golf swing is a very complicated thing and I have been taking lessons,” said Mann, who has shot below his age a number of times. “Now, my goal is to get into the low 80s. I have given away a lot of shots around the green because my short game needs work.”

By Gary Curreri

Lorraine Beaubien has only been playing golf for three years; however, she already has accomplished something people wait a lifetime for.

The 54-year-old Pompano Beach woman earned her first hole-in-one when she used a driver on the 149- yard, Par-3, 17th hole on the first round on the new Greg Norman Signature Course at Pompano Municipal Golf Course.

“I believe in numbers,” Beaubien said. “It happened the first day of the year, the first day The Pines Course opened. It was the first holein- one on the new Pines Course. It was my first hole in- one in my life and my score was 100.”

When the Norman Signature Course held its grand opening ceremony two weeks later, Beaubien had Greg Norman sign her ball. She said she used the driver because that was the distance it would cover given her relative inexperience in the sport.

“For me, it’s a new sport. I think I have an addiction,” Beaubien said. “I can play seven days a week. I play normally four to five times a week, and, the days I don’t play, I read golf books or I watch the golf channel to learn new tips.”

Beaubien enjoys being outside on the links. She likes nature and being out with positive and generous people.

“It is also a technical sport with rules,” said Beaubien, a mother of two. “You need concentration and silence. Who can ask for more? I am playing very well and my husband has been playing 40 years. To do this, I’m sure they are very proud of me and it gave me so much confidence.” “(Getting a hole-in-one) is comparable to something that unfortunately hasn’t happened yet,” Beaubien said. “It is unbelievable, like winning something in a casino.”

Beaubien said she returned the day after her hole in- one and hit a similar shot on the same hole.

“The day after, I returned to play another game on the same course and I hit my ball exactly at the same place,” Beaubien said, “but they moved the flag.”