In an event growing bigger by the year, the 10th Annual Guy Davis Golf Tournament wrapped up its big weekend Saturday at Crown Colony Country Club in Lufkin.
The tournament featured 45 teams composed of 225 golfers, with the help of nearly 70 volunteers. The Lone Star Motors team of Len Phillips, Rock Lamb, Michael Phillips, John Portwood and Marco Maldonado won the overall championship.
Hosted by the Roadrunner Foundation, the tournament generates funds for Angelina College Athletics programs along with scholarship donations to area students.
Foundation president Steve Hall said the tournament’s reputation has spread, resulting in participants – including former Roadrunner athletes – making the trek from around and out of the state just to contribute and play.
“Over the past three years, the participation has grown with every event,” Hall said. “We’re getting more people involved who haven’t been involved in the past, with a lot of newcomers to the tournament. I’ve gotten messages from people who talked about how organized everything was, from the Calcutta to the tournament itself, along with how great the golf course looked. Those are the kinds of messages you want to hear. Every year, we just want to keep getting bigger and better than the year before.”
Hall commended area sponsors for their continued assistance in establishing a tradition.
“We’ve had several sponsors who have been there from the very beginning of this tournament,” Hall said. “Brookshire Brothers has been our presenting sponsor from the beginning, and they’ve been awesome. First Bank and Trust, Bancorp South and Lufkin Coca-Cola have been there as well. Joe Loving has donated a new truck as a hole-in-one prize every year. Joe’s in for the long haul. They’ve been tremendous in making this a special event.”
Hall mentioned some of the new sponsors for this year’s event, including Ross Motorsports and Heritage Land Bank.
Other sponsors offered prizes, including Ross Motorsports.
“With this being a fund-raising tournament, we were able give away some prizes from Crown Colony Pro Shop, but we’ve also gotten other incentives such as a Calcutta and a skins game as incentives for the golfers,” Hall said. “As we grow and the more teams we get, we’ve been able to give away more team prizes.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever reach the cutoff point where we need to make this a two-day tournament, but that would be a great problem to have.”
Hall added that the tournament has grown into more than just an institutional event for Angelina College; it has reached throughout the East Texas area and has become part of the community.
“We have a small-town community that takes care of their own,” Hall said. “When one of our friends is hosting a charitable event, we’re there to help and vice versa. The John Outlaw Foundation has provided a tremendous boost for Lufkin; they support us, and we support them. That’s how it works in our area, and our sponsors and golfers have shown up for us every year.”
The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelin.edu.
