2008 Exceptional Driver Championship Finals Are Underway. Pinnacle is the official golf ball of the EDC, the amateur competition that tests nerves, power and accuracy. 140 EDC competitors are battling against the grid and each other for the $100,000 prize. Click the link below to check out the live scoring, competition photos and story updates, courtesy of Long Drivers of America, as we learn who will be crowned “The Best Driver of the Golf Ball in North America”:
http://www.longdrivers.com/edc_cw_proam.php
Titleist Sales Representative Bobby Andrews has advanced to the Friday rounds. Bobby will be checking in to give us a competitor’s-eye view of the Finals, so be sure to check back soon!
Bobby’s Notebook:
Friday, June 13th, 11 A.M. – Well, I cleared another hurdle. I entered this morning’s elimination rounds as one of 50 remaining contestants and posted 48 points for the two rounds of 5 balls, good enough for first place in the group. Two of us now advance to the afternoon rounds, where the field will be cut the the final 8. The televised 8!
So far I feel pretty confident. My swing is holding up and I’m hitting the grid with regularity. I know that anything can happen out there, though. One of my fellow competitors had a pretty impressive 39 points in his first round, but he couldn’t hit the grid once in the second round. Zero points, and it prevented him from moving on. It’s tough, so I know I’ll have to be sharp this afternoon.
Friday, June 13th, 11 P.M. – You always hear that it’s a game of inches. Not that you need it, but I’m walking proof. I made it this afternoon’s rounds as one of twenty competitors. If I could score well enough to get in the top eight I’d move on to the final televised matches tomorrow. After two rounds I finished tied for the eighth spot. Playoff.
I was pleased with how I was hitting it and pleased with how I was handling the pressure. In the playoff I had a great rhythm going — bang, bang , bang in the grid. I just knew that I had put all five balls in the grid so I reached for that all-important sixth bonus ball. An official held me up, listening to the crew out on the grid. My third ball had roll a yard outside the grid on the right side. And that was the difference between the final 8 and going home. Missed it by that much!
What a great experience, though. I had a lot of fun and learned a little bit about myslef in the process. LDA and Pinnacle - all the sponsors staged a first-class event. I hope to compete again. 36 inches away is just irritatingly close enough that I need another shot. Thanks for the support out there!
————————————————————————————–
Wednesday, June 11th — A quick preface on the format for the Exceptional Driver Championship: In the EDC the 140-man field is broken into two groups of 70. From each group of 70, 7 sub-groups of 10 players are formed. So I started the day hitting with nine other guys. The competition begins with two rounds of hitting 5 balls (plus 1 bonus ball if you hit all 5 balls in the grid). The combined points from Rounds 1 and 2 are added up and the top three drivers from each sub-group of 10 advance to the next stage of competition on Friday. The remaining 7 players go into the “losers bracket” and have to compete in two more rounds (Rounds 3 and 4) to try to advance to Friday.
What an intense day! I knew from local qualifying for the Exceptional Driver Championship that the pressure can really build in this format, but here at the finals you really feel like every ball is crucial. You have to put points up with every shot possible and you can’t do that if you miss the grid. As you advance and the competition gets stronger and stronger the bonus ball becomes the key to winning and losing. I qualified for Mesquite by relying on my bread and butter, a little cut shot. I can hit it farther with a straight ball or slight draw, but the cut is very dependable for me. And it was working perfectly in the Round 1 – I hit 5 out of 5 balls in the grid. I missed the grid with the 6th bonus ball, unfortunately, but I was still sitting pretty.
For some reason, I started to press a bit in Round 2. I strayed from my cut shot in an effort to get a little more distance and paid the price, missing the grid several times to the left. I got only 2 out of 5 in the grid. When the combined points were added up I sat in fourth place. Had I stuck with that cut shot I probably would have made it in the top 3, coasted into Friday qualifying and had a nice relaxing afternoon for myself. As it turned out, though, I had to wait it out a few long hours for the next round.
I went back to basics in Round 3 and drove four out five balls in the grid. The cut was working fine and I got back into a good groove again. More of the same in Round 4 and I made it. I was one of two in our losers bracket group of 7 to advance to Friday’s Rounds. Now that I can breathe again, I think going into the losers bracket may have been a positive for me. I think the extra rounds of competition have gotten me used to the pressure and helped me feel comfortable with the competition surroundings.
I hit a lot of balls today, warming up, trying to build a comfortable rhythm and routine, testing how hard I could go at without sacrficing accuracy. Add to that the mental toll that the pressure takes and you have a pretty draining day. I’m going to head back the hotel, have a good meal and get a solid night of sleep. It was great to advance through the first day, though. I’m looking forward to getting back out there on Friday morning. Wish me luck! Hopefully I’ll have some more good news when I check back in.
–Bobby Andrews
|June 12th, 2008
(FROM ART SELLINGER)
Brian Pavlet and I kicked off the Pinnacle Tuesdays on Tour promotion on February 26th at The Honda Classic. I have been looking forward to the day since we put the event together at the end of last year.
Be sure to check out the photo gallery below.
The set-up on the range at PGA National was great. There was a nice buzz
with all the attendees taking a few swings at our Pavillion driving cage set-up.
All visitors were treated to samples of the new Platinum Feel and Distance balls.
Big hitters walked away with a dozen, all in all more than 500 fans had some
new ammo for their next round of golf.
Well the day progressed and it was nice visiting with several of the tour
players. I was glad to run into Jerry Kelly who was on that amazing trip to
Iraq last year with Brian Pavlet and me. The connection we all had from
that journey will last a lifetime. All the pros were very receptive to us
being at the Classic – we make no claims to play their game. They know we are
going to hit it hard and have fun with the kids that attend the clinic.
The clinic began after the regular afternoon thunder shower. Unfortunately,
the rain took some crowd from us, but a large group from the First Tee program
still attended. I always enjoy entertaining young people and these kids were so
appreciative of the shots Brian and I were hitting.
After an hour of hitting our job was done. We signed the last Pinnacle golf
balls for the kids, took a group photo and we were off to the airport.
I look forward to a great year of “Tuesday’s on Tour” with Pinnacle. Next
stop for us is my home town of Dallas and the EDS Byron Nelson Classic. I
have been associated with the junior clinic there for more than 10 years and it
should be a wonderful event. I’ll keep you posted!
|March 13th, 2008
Check out this article from the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command (FMWRC) about Ryan Hixson, champion of the inaugural Military Long Drive Championship. Hixson defeated four other finalists in Mesquite, Nevada as well as more than 650 competitors from 25 qualifying sites at military installations around the country to earn the $10,000 first place prize and a surprise exemption into the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.
Coast Guard Airman Hixson wins Military Long Drive Championship
By Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs
MESQUITE, Nev. – U.S. Coast Guard Airman Ryan Hixson won the 2007 Military Long Drive Championship presented by Cadbury Schweppes with a drive of 367 yards Oct. 25.
“Unbelievable,” said Hixson, who prevailed against four other finalists under the lights at Mesquite and more than 650 competitors from 25 qualifying sites in the summer-long Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command event. “To have an opportunity to come out here and be treated the way we’ve been treated, and then to come away with a victory, it’s overwhelming. I’m still kind of surreal about it all.”
With the victory, Hixson earned $10,000 and an exemption into the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite.
“I want to thank Art Sellinger for giving me the invitation to the open division next year,” Hixson said. “I couldn’t imagine.”
“We’re very proud to provide this competition for members of the Armed Forces,” said Sellinger, owner of Long Drivers of America and producer of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite. “It’s a great way to honor these heroes, and I hope it’s the start of a great golf tradition.”
The military golfers put on quite a show.
“Once I got it going, it was fun being out there on the grid,” said Hixson, 25, a native of Milan, Ind., who’s stationed at Coast Guard Air Station, Savannah, Ga. “I’m normally not a rah-rah kind of person, but it was a good time out there.”
Runner-up Army Staff Sgt. Bryan King of Wuerzberg, Germany, echoed that sentiment. He qualified for the finals with a 381-yard drive at Fort Hood, Texas.
“Hopefully, we impressed upon the fans and some other people that while we may not be up to the professional level yet, we definitely can put the ball out there,” said King, 29, a native of Mesquite, Texas, who launched the longest drive of the night – a 368-yard, second-round blast that pitted him against Hixson in the two-man finals. “The military always has some of the best people in the world.”
Army Sgt. Joey Bozik, a triple-amputee who served in Iraq, launched the ceremonial first drive standing on prosthetic legs during an elaborate opening ceremony. The competition will air on ESPN and ESPN2 during the Christmas holiday season.
The Army’s “Black Dagger” skydivers dropped onto the driving range to deliver an American flag and the ceremonial first ball, which, based on the crowd’s response, sounded like Bozik launched into orbit.
“It was great to see Joey hit the ceremonial first ball,” Hixson said. “He got the recognition he deserved from the crowd, and the support. I was looking around at a couple of the guys and they were a little teary-eyed. I was, too. It was a very touching moment.”
Hixson followed by winning the first round of six balls apiece on a 365-yard drive with his final swing.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John Merritt of the Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., who qualified with a 386-yard drive at Fort Meade, Md., finished second in round one of the finals with a 357-yard blast. His home course is Fort Belvoir (Va.) Golf Club, an Army MWR facility that features two 18-hole courses.
Merritt was followed by Air Force Staff Sgt. Carl Taylor (348) of Troy, Ill.; Utah Army National Guard 1st Lt. Jeremy Williams (338), who qualified at Fort Carson, Colo.’s Cheyenne Shadows Golf Course; and King (338).
“I really didn’t get a good piece of any of the first six balls,” said King, who had one of the sweetest swings among the finalists. “Then I went back to the range and started getting some good pieces of the ball. It’s just a matter of staying controlled and not trying to really over-swing. It’s a strange thing: You’re trying to hit the ball as far as possible, but if you swing as hard as you can, you just shank it.”
King settled down and won the second round with a 368-yard blast, followed by Hixson (362), Merritt (347), Williams (343) and Taylor (314).
“Get in there!” King shouted while pumping a fist after his final second-round swing produced the 368-yarder that elicited a roar from the crowd.
“The fans were great,” King said. “On that ball I got in to make it to the final, they pumped me up. They were clapping and cheering. They knew I needed something.”
Fourth-place finisher Taylor needed nothing. He fulfilled a long-drive dream by merely being in Mesquite.
“I’ve been chasing the open guys around for three years, trying to make it out here,” Taylor said. “I missed it by just five yards last year at Indianapolis. It’s an awesome sport. I’m addicted to it. I’m so pumped up about it that I told my wife: ‘One way or another, I’m getting out there this year.’”
About a month later, Taylor discovered that the inaugural military division of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship would award five tickets for an all-expenses-paid trip to Mesquite. He qualified for the finals with a 384-yard drive at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., about a 4-hour drive from his home.
“I told my wife: ‘Honey, I’m going to Mesquite,’” Taylor said.
“You’ve got to balance it,” said Hixson, who qualified for the finals with a drive of 346 yards at Fort Stewart, Ga. “In the finals, I hit one 366 in the grid and was pretty comfortable with that, so I felt like I could just rear back and let it go.
“Then again, when you swing that way, it’s kind of tough to hit the grid sometimes.”
Such as Hixson’s 379-yard blast in the first round that came to rest just four inches out of bounds.
“If I could have hit another one of those on the grid, then I’d have been very happy,” said Hixson, who wanted to thank all supporters of his mission in Mesquite. “This has been an incredible experience – more than we could ever ask for. From all the equipment we received, the meals, the way we got catered around to – it’s something I’m not used to. It’s very nice, and we’re all thankful.
“I hope they continue this tradition for a very long time.”
|November 6th, 2007
