The Constellation Furyk & Friends PGA Tour Champions event coming to the Ocean Course at the Hammock Beach Resort begins another chapter in the history of golf in Palm Coast and Flagler County.
Relative to golf's history in Florida, it's relatively short and can also be termed a bit sporadic. The first high-level professional event held in Palm Coast that was part of a major tour was in 2007 and 2008 when the Champions Tour held the Ginn Championship at Ocean Hammock, named for developer Bobby Ginn.
In 2008, the Ginn sur Mer Championship at the Conservatory Course was also a fall PGA Tour event.
Those tournaments went away, as did Ginn, when his dreams of an empire on Palm Coast came crashing down with the bursting of the real estate bubble in 2008.
But other developers and investors took over the properties (KDG Capital bought the Hammock Beach Resort, the Ocean Course and the Conservatory in 2020 for $18.26 million) and now Jim Furyk is bringing one of the most successful regular-season Champions Tour events to Palm Coast for a five-year run, through 2030.
The Constellation Furyk & Friends will be Oct. 9-11.
"It's a 'pinch me' moment," Furyk said of his tournament, which players have voted the best on the Champions Tour in two of its five years.
And can it be the same for Flagler County's golf scene, which has gone through booms and busts in the past, and along with the rest of Florida, is in the midst of a boom?
Can five years with a PGA Tour Champions event benefit not only the Hammock Beach Resort but all 10 golf courses currently operating in the county?
"Absolutely," said Mike Pullen, owner of the Grand Reserve Golf Course in Bunnell (and also the owner of the St. Augustine Shores Golf Club). "Golf has been very strong in Flagler County since the pandemic [most golf courses have experienced a resurgence in tee times since 2020], and I think having a PGA Tour event will help us keep riding that high tide."
M.G. Orender of Hampton Golf, which once managed four courses in Flagler County, also sees the potential for a nationally televised Tour event to, as he said, "lift all ships."
"Without a doubt," he said. "When people see that resort and that golf course on TV, it will be advertising that you can't buy."
Even though Orender's company no longer operates in Flagler County, he said he has fond memories of its time there and was optimistic about the area's golf future with the PGA Tour Champions back.
"It [Furyk & Friends] will attract visitors to the resort and when they see the real estate, that beach, the other really good golf courses in the area, the great restaurants ... they're going to see what Flagler County has to offer," Orender said.
In the meantime, Flagler County golf fans (and those from St. Johns, Volusia and Seminole Counties) once again have a chance to watch golf's biggest stars, even if it's from yesteryear. Among the players scheduled to be in the Furyk & Friends are Hall of Fame members Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer, plus major champions Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, David Toms, Justin Leonard, Mike Weir, Darren Clarke, Corey Pavin and Tom Lehman.
And Furyk & Friends has the potential to give more visibility not only to the Ocean Course and the Hammock Beach Resort but also to bring awareness to thevariety of golf in Flagler County that sometimes gets overshadowed by the high-end resort and private courses on the First Coast to the North, in Volusia County to the South and the Orlando area to the west.
"Any time you have a pro event with that kind of visibility, it elevates the entire area," said Dave Reese, President of Florida's First Coast of Golf, a tourism company that counts Flagler County and Palm Coast within its footprint. "Flagler County has amazing potential, with a good mix of private, resort and public courses and a group of marquee architects."
What's the history of golf courses in Flagler County?
The longest-existing golf course in the county is Ocean Palms, a modest nine-hole course across A1A from the Atlantic, near the Volusia County line, that is 67 years old.
The most recently built course was Grand Reserve, just off U.S. 1 north of Bunnell, a charmer of a public course that has a rarity: A tidal lake that serves as its driving range.
Here are the current golf courses in operation in Flagler County, ranked by opening dates:
- Ocean Palms (public): The nine-hole course was designed by Fred Bolton and built in 1959. The city of Flagler Beach bought the course in 2013 and it was renovated in 2016. It will undergo another facelift to become a 12-hole course next year under new ownership that purchased it from the city earlier this year.
- Palm Harbor (municipal): ITT built a nine-hole course in 1971, added another nine in 1973 and the city of Palm Coast took over ownership in 2007. William Amick was the architect.
- Pine Lakes (public): Arnold Palmer is the architect of the course built in 1980 and renovated in 2006.
- Links Course at Hammock Dunes Club (private): Designed by Tom Fazio and built in 1988, with a renovation in 2016.
- Cypress Knoll (public): Gary Player designed the course in 1989. It was renovated in 2005.
- Grand Haven (private): Jack Nicklaus became the last of golf's "Big Three" (with Palmer and Player) to design a Flagler County Course when it was built in 1998.
- Ocean Course at Hammock Beach (resort): The first course built on the Atlantic seaboard in 70 years when it opened in 2000. Nicklaus served up a solid follow-up hit to Grand Haven, with six holes that have ocean views.
- Creek Course at Hammock Dunes Club (private): The second course built by the private club in 2003 was designed by Rees Jones, who supervised a renovation in 2017.
- Conservatory Course at Hammock Beach (resort and residential): Tom Watson designed the course, which was built in 2006.
- Grand Reserve (public): William Amick designed the short (6,400 yards) but playable course that winds through central Flagler County wetlands and some residential properties.
Michelle Wie helps put Ocean Course on the map
Shortly after the Ocean Course opened, the United States Golf Association scheduled the U.S. Women's Public Links Championship for 2003.
Little did they know that a tween golfer from Hawaii would use that tournament to launch her sometimes controversial career.
Michelle Wie (now Michelle Wie West) entered the Public Links at the age of 13, came to Palm Coast and became the youngest player in history to win a USGA national championship when she beat Virada Nirapathpongporn 1-up in a 36-hole final.
Wie sprayed 300-yard drives all over the expanse of the Ocean Course all week, hit shots over trees and water, played from hazards and commented, "Golf is more fun if you take risks."
Wie, who hit one measured drive if 320 yards, shot 7-under for the 36-hole final. She began earning sponsor invitations to not only LPGA events but PGA Tour events, then tried to qualify for the USGA men's public links in her stated attempt to become the first woman to play in the Masters.
Wie never made the cut in a PGA Tour event and never came close to winning a USGA men's amateur championship that could have resulted in a Masters invitation. She and her parents were criticized for possibly derailing her development on the LPGA but she went on to win five times on that tour, highlighted by the 2014 U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst.
"I really don't know why Michelle continues to do this," Sorenstam said in 2008 at the site of the Women's British Open. "We have a major this week and, if you can't qualify for a major, I don't see any reason why you should play with the men."
PGA Tour history in Flagler County
It's brief but notable.
Bobby Ginn lured the Tour to bring a fall event to the Conservatory Course in 2008, the Ginn sur Mer Classic. With surprisingly chilly and rainy weather on the weekend, Ryan Palmer survived to win, making a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 71 and a one-shot victory over George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson, Vaughn Taylor, Ken Duke and Michael Letzig at 7-under 281.
The tournament did not have Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els. But it did attract solid Tour players of that era such as Matt Kuchar, Jason Dufner, Lee Janzen, Jesper Parnevik, Jeff Maggert, Todd Hamilton, Bob Tway, David Duval, Joe Durant, Billy Andrade, Jerry Kelly and Chris DiMarco.
Palmer went on to win four PGA Tour titles, and having turned 50 this year, he's eligible to play in the Furyk & Friends. He's one of 21 players who were in the field that week at the Conservatory who have committed to the Furyk & Friends as of Sept. 28, including Parnevik, Maggert, DiMarco, Durant, Y.E. Yang and defending Furyk champion Tommy Gainey.
PGA Tour Champions history in Flagler County
The Ginn Championship was played at the Ocean Course in 2007 and 2008, with the date coming in late March. Keith Fergus won in 2007 and Bernhard Langer in 2008.
Fergus opened 67-67 and topped a leaderboard loaded with Hall of Fame members. His 12-under 204 was one shot clear of Hale Irwin and Mark O'Meara, with Raymond Floyd tying for eighth and Ben Crenshaw for 12th.
Also in the mix that week were Tour stars such as Fred Funk, Tim Simpson, Jay Haas, Scott Hoch and Andy Bean.
Langer led Funk by three shots entering the final round, and with the day turning gray and windy, his 71 turned it into a runaway. Langer matched Fergus' 12-under and won by eight shots over Simpson and Lonnie Nielsen, while Funk and Joe Ozaki tied for fourth. Hall of Fame members Tom Watson and Nick Price tied for sixth.
The weather got so dicey along the ocean that Fuzzy Zoeller was the only player to shoot in the 60s and he and Langer were the only players to break par. Ian Woosnam was the only other player to shoot even-par 72. A dozen players shot in the 80s and Mark Lye posted an 89.
Langer (69 years old) and Funk (70) are the only players in the Furyk & Friends field who played in the last Ginn Championship.
Nancy Lopez and the Mixed Team Championship
Before the Ginn Championship and the Ginn Sur Mer and now the Furyk & Friends, there was a professional golf tournament in Palm Coast that drew major champions and World Golf Hall of Fame members.
And it had everything to do with the touring professional of the Palm Harbor Golf Club ― LPGA star and Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez.
ITT, which developed much of Flagler County and built Palm Harbor, lured Lopez to represent the course. She moved to Palm Coast for a few years and, in the process, used her considerable star power at the time to get a world-class field for the 1978 Colgate Palm Coast World Mixed Team Championship.
Lopez and Lee Trevino won the one-day best-ball tournament with a 66. Also in the field were Raymond Floyd, Gary Player, Judy Rankin and Laura Baugh.
It was a one-off tournament and Lopez' affiliation with Palm Harbor lasted only a few more years.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour Champions back at Palm Coast. Will it help Flagler County golf?
