Suwanee Golf Event Has International Appeal

They came to Suwanee from Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, Brazil and other places Monday to participate in the Collegiate Players Tour tournament and fund-raiser, which ends today.

"I came to watch my baby," Carol Haynie said along the No. 9 fairway at Laurel Springs Golf Club on Monday as daughter Kelsey Haynie hit her approach shot during a fund-raising event preceding the tournament. Carol Haynie lives in Brazil, where husband Jack is a manager for Pride International.

Kelsey Haynie is one of 20 players who are scheduled to take part in the two-day, 54-hole CPT event beginning Tuesday at Laurel Springs. Like the other 11 events on the tour, it's designed to give college golfers a chance to keep their games in shape when classes are out. The players fund their own travel expenses. The tour is sanctioned by college coaches and the U.S. Golf Association.

Tour Director Barry Rodenhaver is a golf veteran -- 28 years as a college coach at Maryland, Odessa College and SMU. He lauds tour title sponsor State Farm and stresses that to the participating players. "You may want to look to them for a job," he advises them.

Monday's fund-raiser was to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia

Golf and family both are routine for Carol Haynie, who lives in Macae, Brazil, but is from Scotland. She met her husband in Scotland 27 years ago on his first job in Aberdeen, and they have been married 23 years. She travels to her daughter's golf events regularly.

Carol Haynie flew from Rio de Janeiro to Houston (10 hours), where her husband's company is based, then to Atlanta for the Suwanee event. Jack Haynie also is flying in for Kelsey Haynie's tourney.

Kelsey Haynie just finished her freshman year at McNeese State in Lake Charles, La. Last month, when she had "nothing to do," she flew across the big pond to Scotland and played several of the courses at St. Andrews; of course, that was combined with visiting her mother's family.

This is the third CPT event for Kelsey Haynie, and her first time playing Laurel Springs (6,804 yards, par 71), which was designed by Jack Nicklaus. "It's hard," she said of the course. "It's up and down a lot."

The tournament and fund-raiser offered some twists that are not part of regular NCAA competition. One is that men and women play together. "It's fun," Kelsey Haynie said of golfing with men. "You just do your best."

Another twist Monday was a marshmallow-driving competition. Players literally teed up marshmallows during their rounds. "I think I lost," Kelsey Haynie said, laughing.

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Atlanta-area players entered in the Suwanee CPT tournament are Chris Stuart of Duluth (Georgia College); Dan Merriman of Marietta (independent); Eric Hodgson of Marietta (Cumberland University) and Harrison Florence of Roswell (U.S. Military Academy).