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Editor's Last Word
A night of laughs with the pros
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Paul Ramsdell
Editor |
Sometimes, a charity golf event doesn't have to be overly big or tremendously well known to be a huge success.
Something called "Brian Henninger's Fireside Chat" doesn't have a spot on everyone's calendar and hasn't made a lot of headlines.
Still, Brian Henninger, the PGA Tour player from Wilsonville, Ore., wouldn't change a thing about his charity get-together. And the 20 different children's charities, mostly in Oregon, which currently are sharing the $109,000 that was raised last October, are glad of that.
The formula is fairly simple. It's Henninger, seven of his PGA Tour buddies, along with 32 amateur partners, with Bandon Dunes being the backdrop. It's gone on for seven years now, with no changes foreseen.
"We really don't have to tweak this thing. I mean we talked about, 'Should we bring in a celebrity, a guest speaker, something to create a little more hype,'" Henninger said. "To be honest with you, it doesn't need it. Bandon Dunes speaks for itself. Everybody enjoys being there. You don't have to drive anywhere. If you want to just stay up all night and smoke cigars and drink wine, you can do that."
While Bandon Dunes creates a great setting, what's probably the most unique aspect of Henninger's gathering is the actual fireside chat.
After dinner, the pros and the amateurs, just 40 people in all, retire to a room above the McKenzie Pub to enjoy a lengthy and intriguing question-and-answer session about golf.
"The guys come because they are Brian's good buddies," said Ed O'Mara, who directs the Brian Henninger Foundation. "It's a fun interaction to watch. It's entertaining to see how comfortable they are with each other."
Joining Henninger this year were Paul Goydos, Brandel Chamblee, Scott McCarron, Jim Carter, Glen Day, Brandt Jobe and Olin Browne.
"I make this thing really easy and comfortable for them," Henninger said. "From all my experiences, I know I had all the details and I know what they like and what they don't like, and I really truly believe they think this is the neatest thing that they get to do."
And what's neat for the amateurs is getting to ask any type of question.
"The dialogue goes all over the map. We're never sure where we're headed every year. We don't script anything, but each year we find we all learn a lot more about the game and the guys playing the sport," O'Mara said.
"We've had issues, we've had what's John Daly really like when you play with him, tell us about Tiger," O'Mara said. "You get a little mix of everything."
It's not always an easy evening to pull off, however. The amateurs spend Saturday and Sunday playing at Bandon Dunes, then the pros come in Sunday night for the fireside chat and then a round on Monday.
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| Brian Henninger, far left, brings his PGA Tour buddies to Bandon Dunes for a fun and intimate pro-am every year. |
"But we make it real easy," Henninger said. "And then they get comfortable, and it gets almost hilarious with everybody cracking up."
That happened when Goydos told the story about watching Daly make an 18 on a hole at the Bay Hill Invitational.
Getting the players from Las Vegas, the site of the PGA Tour event that weekend, to Bandon requires the help of Gary McLean, the president of Interstate Distributors, Co., in Tacoma, Wash., who donates a private jet to help keep costs down, and therefore contributions to the charities up. Among the charities that benefit is the Evans Scholarship Program, which has received more than $25,000 over the past few years.
"It's tremendously generous on Gary McLean's behalf," said Henninger, who added McLean makes sure the players get to their next stop - be it Reno, Scottsdale, San Diego, or wherever, in the same style.
Once the pros got to Bandon, their rounds Monday with their amateur partners were on the new Bandon Trails course.
"Across the board, the pros played the new Bandon Trails course this year and the reception to it was exceptional," O'Mara said. "The guys all thought it was a phenomenal facility."
The format, the friendships and the facility help make the event high on everyone's priority list.
"The pros are actually getting to know the amateurs by name," Henninger said, "so they walk through the door and it's 'Hi Jim. Hi Bob. Great to see you again this year' sort of thing."
It's pretty much what Henninger hoped for when he envisioned this event.
"I'm going to get my buddies together. I'm going to get some amateur people that I've met around the country and we're all going to have a great time playing golf together," Henninger said.
"It's kind of grown into something more significant, and I'm so proud of what it stands for."
More information on the Brian Henninger Foundation is available by visiting www.brianhenninger.com.
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