The Gate Invitational - North Florida’s best tournament for local players - will be played for the 20th time this month.
If you discount the tournament’s name, however, it will be No. 22.
The event originally was the Northern Chapter PGA Invitational and was started in 1983 by Jim Kuhn, known today as a Clay County businessman but then the Chapter president and pro at the now-defunct Fort George Island Golf Club.
It was played the first two years at Sawgrass and Oak Bridge with the same winner: Bill Adams of Starke.
“We had an active Chapter and we needed a good tournament for the community,” said Kuhn. “It was a start.”
Among the players was Ponte Vedra Director of Golf Robert Harris. His club was part of the growing Gate empire that included Deerwood. Even though his boss, Herb Peyton, wasn’t a golfer, Harris felt it was worth the effort to see if his operation could get involved.
“Jim Kuhn did a great job getting started but it was just too much for one guy at a public course,” said Harris, now the director of golf at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. “I knew we could improve on it, and he certainly was supportive.
“I went to Mr. Peyton and pushed for it. I told him that he owns three courses and this was a good opportunity to showcase them. Not everyone could afford to go to Ponte Vedra, but people could afford to play in his tournament.
“We also had an obligation to the golf community. This was a way to bring the good players together in a good setting with a good tournament.”
Kuhn happily agreed, Peyton put up some sponsorship money and the tournament has been basically the same since.
“Robert was a go-to guy,” said Harris’ successor, Jim Howard, who then was an assistant pro at PV. “He put his program together and showed how it was feasible for us to take it over.
“Mr. Peyton admired Robert. He had confidence in his ability to get things done, so he agreed.”
Not much changes from year to year. The dates this year are a little earlier, as the Gate dates must avoid conflicts with other PGA events and the North Florida PGA Section championship took the usual days, but players can expect the same - qualifying for non-exempt players at the Ocean course (it’s on Sunday, Aug. 8 this year) and three days of play opening at the Lagoon and
continuing for the final two
rounds at the Ocean. This year it’s
Aug. 15-17.
“When we started, no one even considered seniors,” said Harris. That division was added and became a monster - it was so popular that it overloaded the field, so later the seniors were spun off to their own event in December.
Only four courses have been used. The original rotation was PV Lagoon-Deerwood-PV Ocean, but Deercreek substituted one year when Deerwood was being renovated. Today, it’s only at Ponte Vedra as Gate sold Deerwood to the members.
The purse will be in the $30,000 range and the final total depends on the professional entry. All Chapter pros are exempt but must come up with a $600 entry fee, which many get by selling “sponsorships” to their members.
“It rides the tide of the economy,” said Howard. “We’ve had as low as 35, but usually it’s in the 50s.”
The amateurs will fill the 90-player field from their non-exempt list (the top 16 from last year) and qualifying, which will draw a full field of 120 and will be the second best amateur tournament in the area, topped only by the Gate itself.