Golf writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive “Play-Write” series with his hometown golf course: En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, New York—site of the upcoming 2011 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Loren Roberts edged out Fred Funk at the 2010 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

I guess maybe there are a few better places to call home if you are a golfer.

Perhaps growing up in Augusta, Georgia and playing the National where the world’s best golfers come each spring to play in the Masters.

Or the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland would be a treat.

Maybe Pebble Beach Golf Links would be a spectacular site.

But for this kid from the west side of Binghamton, which along with Johnson City and Endicott is known as the “Triple Cities” of the Southern Tier of New York State… there is no better place in the world than En-Joie Golf Club.

Born in 1959, I came of age the same time as the PGA TOUR.

The touring pros were a new, different and emerging business than the club pros.

Read former Commissioner Deane Beman’s book Golf’s Driving Force to understand why even a little triple play town like Endicott was a key component of that rising starship enterprise known as the PGA TOUR.

The Triple Cities with founder William Bingham and industrialists like Thomas J, Watson Sr. and George F. Johnson and his Square Deal was always a community like no other.

Like the tour, the Valley of Opportunity surrounding En Joie is about charity, hard work and helping one another even in the most difficult of times.

The B.C. Open tournament founder Alex Alexander was the “little engine that thought he could and did” starting with a one-day satellite event in 1971.

The now famous golf instructor “Butch Harmon” won that event, his only win in a short three-year playing career.

To his credit Alexander staged a PGA TOUR event for more than three decades without the benefit of a major title sponsor.

Though named after a comic strip written by Endicott’s own Johnny Hart the B.C. Open was never a joke—it was a world class golf tournament built upon the fabric of a golfing community.

When George F. wanted to build a course for his workers he wanted it to be flat so that while they recreated that did not become overly exhausted—he wanted them to “en-joie” their time away from the shoe factories.

So En-Joie was built on the flatlands along the Susquehanna River.

Along with that decision, flooding became a constant challenge for the golf course and tournament.

A flood in 2006 washed out parts of the golf course and what was to be the last B.C. Open was played at and presented by the Turning Stone Resort a hundred miles away.

Professional golf returned quickly to the Triple Cities and En Joie in 2007 with a Champions’ Tour event—the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Dick’s first store was in Binghamton so now the tournament held at En Joie has a major sponsor with roots in the community.

The Champions tour event is a good fit for the community as well.

The Champions Tour golfers remember the Triple Cities, and the locals remember them as well.

Current Dick’s Sporting Goods Open Tournament Director Jon Karedes is carrying on in the tradition of Alexander and the En Joie tournament continues to benefit the Broome County Community Charities.

If you have the chance, go to the Triple Cities and “en-joie” everything good about life, golf and a great tournament!

Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive “Play-Write” series recently playing the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and writing about this week’s PLAYERS Championship. This is the ninth article in his “Play-Write” series.

Driving down PGA TOUR Boulevard the turn onto Championship Way may be elusive if you are not paying attention to the matter at hand.

After all, it is a neighborhood and the corner anchoring the East-West buildings of the PGA TOUR headquarters look residential if you can see them amidst the garden-like landscaping of the Sawgrass Players Club community.

This is the American home of golf.

Right there on that corner of Championship Way and PGA TOUR Boulevard stands the aluminized portrait of the game’s all-time greatest golfer, “Champion Emeritus” Jack Nicklaus.

Nicklaus won the very first PLAYERS Championship, which was then known as the Tournament Players Championship, in 1974. With even-year frequency, he triumphed in 1976 and 1978. The Golden Bear is the only three-time champion in the tournament’s 37-year history.

The drive that winds down Championship Way and then rises to reveal the majestic Mediterranean-Style Clubhouse is like no other in golf.

From TOUR headquarters to TOUR playground this ride sets the stage for an exciting visit to the most iconic golf course and golf hole in the world—the famed par-three 17th with the island green.

Along Championship Way, one is introduced to the tall pine trees, sprawling oak trees with a splash of palm trees that grace the property. TPC Sawgrass—home of THE PLAYERS—is what former PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman envisioned and built with the design assistance of the great golf course architect Pete Dye.

After passing the headquarter buildings some water comes into view but one has to wait until putting the peg in the ground on the first tee before it comes into play.

The first green is there off to the right but it is hidden by one of Dye’s signature spectator viewing mounds.

As the road curves along its path there are a total of 31 champion portraits beginning with “the great one” and ending with 2010 Champion Tim Clark.

Like Nicklaus, two-time champions Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton and Davis Love III only have one lamppost rendition with the multiple years of victory noted below their portrait.

As PLAYERS tradition calls for, defending champion Clark’s portrait was erected late last week immediately before the commencement of this year’s event.

Another tradition at THE PLAYERS is volunteering and charitable giving.

The PLAYERS volunteer organization led by Red Coat Chairmen date back officially to the 1965 Jacksonville Open. The roots are deeper than that and go back to the 1945 when Sam Snead won the first one here on Florida’s First Coast.

Current Executive Direct Matt Rapp and Tournament Chairman Jim Fuller have made their own signature improvements in this the fifth year of the PLAYERS with a May date.

While the golfers will have “fun in the sun,” the patrons will have it “made in the shade” with the additional of several upscale gathering and relaxing venues to enjoy between golf shots.

The UBS Stadium Village has been enhanced and improved with the one-third replica of the par-three 17th hole still a hole anyone can play when they come out to the PLAYERS Championship.

Two volunteers I have worked alongside the past few years on the course prep team, Jimmy Davis and Ted Dill, passed on over this past winter to the promised eternal golf course in the sky.

Their friendship and generosity, along with other volunteers that have passed on, will never be forgotten at THE PLAYERS or within the Northeast Florida communities.

A record $4.8 million from the 2010 PLAYERS benefited nearly 100 First Coast charities.

The Stadium Course is in excellent condition. The growing season this spring was optimal. Hot and sunny weather is predicted through tournament time. Look for “firm, fast and fair as can be on a Dye course” conditions for this post-Mother’s Day competition.

The big year of change before Mickelson’s victory in 2007 came with a new clubhouse and major golf course renovations including the extensive rebuilding of every fairway and green.

TPC Sawgrass General Manager Bill Hughes, Head Golf Professional Matt Borocz and Golf Course Superintendent Thomas Vlach and their staffs are prepared to make this year’s experience the most magical ever for players, spectators and the millions watching the acclaimed NBC Sports broadcast on television.

What golfers have won and not won the PLAYERS?

The first PLAYERS was staged 10 years after Arnold Palmer won his last of seven majors at the 1964 Masters. Though well past his prime, Palmer played in a dozen PLAYERS with his best finish a T40 coming in 1977.

It would have been nice if Gary Player had a portrait on one of those posts as well. He played in 10 championships and posted top-10 finishes in 1976 and 1980.

Tom Watson competed in his prime at the PLAYERS on 26 occasions though never won. With nine top-10s his closest pursuit of the title was a distant second to the hot Lanny Wadkins in 1979.

The man who analyzes the action at the PLAYERS for NBC Sports had his chances as well. Playing in 14 PLAYERS, Johnny Miller won his second major after the creation of the PLAYERS and 15 other PGA TOUR events but nary a PLAYERS Championship.

Most of the best golfers have won the best tournament in the world, including Lanny Wadkins (1979), Lee Trevino (1980), Raymond Floyd (1981), Tom Kite (1989), Nick Price (1993), Greg Norman (1994), Tiger Woods (2001) and Phil Mickelson (2007).

Those are six current World Golf Hall of Famers and two future inductees.

The creator Beman and architect Dye are also in the Hall of Fame in large part for their noncompetitive PLAYERS triumphs.

Hale Irwin, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Larry Nelson, Hubert Green, Jose Maria Olazabal, Payne Stewart, Ernie Els and Curtis Strange all had chances in their prime but did not win.

Isn’t that strange?

As the players emerge from the TPC Sawgrass locker room heading to golf’s finest stadium they pass a sign that reads, “Through this tunnel pass the greatest golfers of the world competing for the right to be called the PLAYERS champion.”

Not everybody is destined to win THE PLAYERS Championship or is good enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Perhaps this is the year that Ernie Els does both?

“PLAYERS’ Passion” catch the excitement on NBC Sports or make that left turn onto Championship Way and come out to the Stadium Course to see something spectacular.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer as well as a Research and Broadcast Assistant for the major golf broadcast companies. He spends time on all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Reistetter resides within two miles of the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame and THE PLAYERS while pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary or by e-mailing him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com

Host John Hyat (with microphone), coach Brad McMakin (with trophy) and the 2011 Arkansas Razorbacks team champions.

Coming into the 20th rendition of the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational, No. 13 Arkansas was the lowest ranked Top-20 team in the field behind Florida (3), Auburn (9), and LSU (10).

After what is known as the “first collegiate major of the year” at the famed Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., the Razorbacks team, along with Head Coach Brad McMakin and Assistant Coach Barrett Lais, took home the trophy.

Coming from 7 strokes back of Auburn, the five-man team (counting the best 4 scores each round) won on the strength of a closing 66 by Ethan Tracy, a junior from Hilliard, Ohio, and a 67 by Will Pearson, a freshman from Memphis, Tennessee.

Tracy and Pearson went from shooting the two highest scores the day before to basically lapping the field in much more difficult conditions in the closing round on Tuesday. Whatever Coach McMakin said to them on Monday night was the right thing to say and produced dramatic results.

Arkansas’ team score was boosted by Sebastian Cappelen, a freshman from Odense, Denmark who shot 69-70-73 (212) to finish joint second in the individual competition with Auburn’s redshirt sophomore Blayne Barber from nearby Lake City, Florida.

Jamie Marshall, a senior from Castle Rock, Colorado contributed to the Arkansas team victory with a 70 in Round 1. Austin Cook, the true Razorback on the team and a sophomore from Jonesboro shot a pivotal 73 in Round 2 to stay within reach of the higher ranked Auburn team.

Auburn, led by Barber (212) and sophomore Michael Hebert (213) from Orlando, finished 2nd two strokes behind Arkansas. LSU, led by Andrew Loupe (216), a senior from Baton Rouge was 3rd another two strokes back of Auburn.

Florida, the top-ranked team in the field of 15 universities, finished T6. There was consolation for the Gators with Phillip Choi winning the individual championship as Matt Every did in 2005, Camilo Villegas in 2002 and Steve Scott in 1999. However in each of those three years Florida walked away with the team title as well.

Choi’s 7-under 209 total, with 68-71-70 consistency, was as remarkable as Tracy and Pearson’s closing rounds on the difficult par-72 6,895 yard East-West Sawgrass CC that hosted THE PLAYERS Championship from 1977 to 1981.

Some say the premier event on the PGA TOUR was moved across the street to Pete Dye’s diabolical Stadium Course because Sawgrass CC, with the stiff ocean breezes, was too difficult for the professional golfers.

The collegiate golfers love coming to Sawgrass CC to enjoy the hospitality of Club President Jim Scielzo and General Manager Barry McDonald.

University of North Florida (UNF) Head Coach Scott Schroeder heads up the tournament with expert help from the operations team at Sawgrass- Director of Golf Greg Lecker, Head Golf Professional Billy Pomeroy and Golf Course Superintendent Matt Durkee.

As the golfers enter the clubhouse they see portraits of PLAYERS’ champions Mark Hayes (1977), Jack Nicklaus (1978), Lanny Wadkins (1979), Lee Trevino (1980) and Raymond Floyd (1981).

Talk of inspiration for the youth of the game of golf: There you have four Hall of Famers.

Hayes and Nicklaus won THE PLAYERS at Sawgrass CC with plus-1 totals.

To play Sawgrass CC in a major competition must be a challenging experience, though one that is a good measure of a golfer’s ability.

A quick look at current PGA TOUR players in addition to Villegas and Every that have fared well in the Hayt Invitational include Michael Thompson (Alabama), Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina), Kevin Chappell (UCLA), Casey Wittenburg (Oklahoma State), D.J. Trahan (Clemson), Brandt Snedeker (Vanderbilt), Bubba Dickersen (Florida), Luke Donald (Northwestern), Carl Pettersson (NC State), and Chris Couch (Florida).

The 2011 tournament will be remembered for the weather that made playing the Ed Seay designed course different each of the three days of competition.

In Round 1 on Sunday, it was warm and calm. Monday brought a south wind and Tuesday a north wind with cooler temperatures to test the players.

Seay, who passed in 2007, teamed up with Arnold Palmer to design more than 250 golf courses worldwide.

“Pugie,” as he was known to his friends, masterfully designed the East and West nines to parallel the ocean with the typical east wind playing as a cross wind. The first nine goes counterclockwise and the second nine going clockwise out and back to the clubhouse area.

Changing winds and changing hole directions plus Seay’s well-bunkered greens and water on 14 of 18 holes challenges the game’s best shot-makers.

The collegiate amateurs did get a taste of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass courtesy of General Manager Bill Hughes. On Monday evening each team participated in a fun three-hole challenge over the finishing 16, 17 and 18th holes formally known as “The Gauntlet.”

Informally, the well-hazarded holes are known as “The Water Closet,” encouraging golfers to “flush” their iron shots or get “closeted” out by the water right and long of 16, surrounding the 17th and down the entire left side of 18. If they don’t flush ’em they get flushed down the leader board.

The University of Central Florida Knights won the 3-hole competition with a record 6-under par (for the 4 best out of 5 scores) led by Englishman Greg Eason going eagle-birdie on the 16th and 17th. Let’s see that on a Sunday during The PLAYERS… can you say the name Craig Perks?

John Hayt, the tournament host, namesake and sponsor with his wife Gerri presided at the awards ceremony. Hayt is a well-known Jacksonville businessman and UNF golf enthusiast.

Local golfers, as well as collegiate golfers, benefit from his generosity playing the unique and innovative Golfplex at UNF that bears his name.

Jacksonville-based companies Swisher International and Web.com were platinum sponsors.

There was only one suggestion to improve for next year—Arkansas needs to remember to bring their team flag!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer covering all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Reistetter resides in Pont Vedra Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida and pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it.

Please comment directly on this article or email him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com

Martin Kaymer congratulates Luke Donald on his WGC – Accenture Match Play victory. Photo Credit: European Tour

With snow on the ground in the morning, a hail storm in the afternoon, by nightfall in the Arizona desert four European golfers have stormed to the top of the world of golf.

In the 13th edition of the World Golf Championship Accenture Match Play, Martin Kaymer displaced Lee Westwood and became the 14th golfer to be World No. 1.

On Sunday when Luke Donald defeated Kaymer for the Match Play championship, he leapfrogged from World No. 9 to No. 3 behind only Kaymer and Westwood.

2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell rounds out the European Top 4—the first time since March 1992 when Ian Woosnam (No. 1), Nick Faldo (2), Jose-Marie Olazabal (3) and Seve Ballesteros (4) led the world rankings.

With Tiger Woods No. 5 and Phil Mickelson No.6, then Paul Casey (7) and Rory McIlroy (8), the Euros hold six of the top eight spots.

The world order in golf has changed significantly since Phil Mickelson won the Masters nearly one year ago.

McDowell won at Pebble Beach, South African Louis Oosthuizen won the Open at St. Andrews and Kaymer beat Bubba Watson in the playoff at Whistling Straits in the PGA Championship.

Then McDowell won the Ryder Cup for the Europeans in Celtic Manor in Wales to end the year 2010 completing the monumental shift in golfing prowess.

Now it looks as though America’s aged golfing stars are being passed by with only the young Matt Kuchar at World No. 10 coming into his prime.

We might very well see Westwood win his first major this year, and Donald or Casey too.

Okay, maybe the sky is not falling in for the Americans. Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan have developed quite nicely in the last year as well.

But the change has been as dramatic as Donald’s domineering performance in the six rounds of match play at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain Resort.

Donald never trailed in any of his matches en route to his third and biggest win on the PGA Tour, but his first in five years.

The deepest he was all square in any of his matches was through 10 holes versus Martin Kaymer in the Championship Match, and Edoardo Molinari in the second round.

The Northwestern graduate trounced three Americans on his way to the title—6&5 over Charley Hoffman in Round one, 5&4 over Ryan Moore in the quarterfinals and 6&5 over Matt Kuchar in the semifinals.

Perhaps history will look to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as the last low point of Donald’s career, and the last high point of Tiger Woods’ career.

Woods beat Rocco Mediate in a Monday playoff to win his last (to date) major championship.

Donald had to withdraw during the fourth round on the 16th fairway after suffering a tendon injury to his left wrist which required surgery.

Donald came back at Tiger’s Chevron Challenge tournament late in the year; though he missed the Ryder Cup at Valhalla.

Donald, on the mend, had a decent year in 2009, and then again last year finishing second at East Lake in the TOUR championship. He was a member of the victorious European Ryder cup team in Wales last fall.

Now the artsy Donald has resumed his winning ways and is at his highest ever position in the world golf rankings at No. 3.

Woods, on the other hand, continued his winning ways in 2009, but then went winless in 2010 for the first time in his career and has yet to win his 15th major on the way to surpassing Nicklaus’ 18.

Golf’s “February Frenzy,” as coined on The Golf Channel by host Kelly Tilghman, produced outstanding drama over the five days of competition.

Steve Stricker on his 44th birthday was beaten by Matteo Manassero, a 17-year-old Italian golfer and the youngest ever in the event that features the Top 64 in the world golf rankings.

Tiger Woods, the No. 1 seed in the Sam Snead bracket, could not even tee off in his first round match against Thomas Bjorn until the first three matches of the day played through on the first tee heading to a sudden death conclusion.

Woods lost to Bjorn in 19 holes after watching defending champion Ian Poulter get beat by Stewart Cink on the 19th (first) hole.

Other No. 1 seeds, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood, lost in Round 2 to Rickie Fowler and Nick Watney, respectively.

Kaymer, the fourth No. 1 seed, became the new World No. 1 golfer after his semifinal win over Bubba Watson. The 26-year-old is the second German to do so (Bernard Langer).

With another WGC event one week away, and the Masters only five weeks away, the real drama in golf may be upcoming.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer covering all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

 Reistetter resides in Pont Vedra Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

 A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida and pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it.

 Please comment directly on this article or email him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com