D'Amato: American Family golf tournament hitting all the right notes
MADISON – Steve Stricker hit his drive on the 10th hole at University Ridge on Saturday and took a few steps, then turned to the mass of people scrunched shoulder to shoulder behind the tee, none of them moving.
“Who are you all waiting for?” he said with a grin.
That would be Brett Favre, Derek Jeter, Darius Rucker and Andy North, pulling up the rear in the American Family Insurance Championship with a hit-and-giggle event to raise money for American Family Children’s Hospital.
As North accurately pointed out afterward, you’d never see this at a regular PGA Tour event – a celebrity foursome playing immediately behind the tournament leaders. But it’s just one of many things that make this PGA Tour Champions event a can’t-miss happening on Madison’s summer schedule.
There is competitive golf, for sure. Paul Broadhurst takes a two-shot lead over Lee Janzen and Scott Verplank into the final round, and it’s just another stroke back to Stricker, the tournament host, and crowd favorite Fred Couples. They’re going to be grinding Sunday, and somebody is going to pocket $300,000.
But the AmFam is about so much more. It’s about a community coming together to support homegrown heroes Stricker and Jerry Kelly and raise money for charity. In its inaugural year in 2016, the tournament raised more than $1 million and this year the nut is bound to be bigger.
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Madison is an ideal market for the PGA Tour Champions – the city is just the right size and the tournament is the biggest thing going until Wisconsin Badgers football cranks up. The local media has provided blanket coverage. You can’t be a Madison resident and not know this thing is going on.
Officials estimated the crowd Saturday at 20,000 and total attendance after two rounds at more than 35,000. At $25 per ticket it’s a great entertainment value. Where else can you watch Favre and Jeter play golf, get Couples’ and Nick Faldo’s autograph, cheer on Stricker and relax in the shade with a brat and beer?
The fans are loud and enthusiastic, too. PGA Tour Champions players, who are used to playing before galleries consisting of their wives and a few friends, are impressed.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Broadhurst said. “It’s a brilliant atmosphere. Really, really good.”
Said Couples, “Great crowds. From where I’ve played in seven years (on the Champions tour) this is as good as it gets.”
American Family Insurance threw its marketing muscle behind the event and mobilized an army of volunteers. Rucker put on a concert Friday night at Breese Stevens Field. Jeter, an American Family brand ambassador who didn’t start playing golf seriously until he retired after his fabulous career with the New York Yankees, added a marquee element to the celebrity foursome.
“They sort of set me up because I didn’t know there was going to be any people out here when I agreed to do this,” Jeter joked. “I’ve never played golf in front of a gallery and then I showed up this morning and I found out it’s televised (on Golf Channel). So they set me up.”
Rucker said the ovation he got when he rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole beat the ones he received at his concert.
“I’m still hearing that one,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, that felt good.”
There’s been a little serendipity involved, too. Having locals Stricker and Kelly turn 50 within the last year and become Champions tour-eligible didn’t hurt. University Ridge is in great shape. The weather has been good. The field is missing just two big names – Bernhard Langer and John Daly – but is otherwise as loaded as a Champions tour field can be.
The American Family Insurance Championship is positioned for a good run at least until Stricker and Kelly reach their late 50s and their games start to fade. Tournament director Nate Pokrass and his staff, with the company’s input and support, have laid the groundwork for long-term success.
Meanwhile, in the short term, it’s not too late to buy a ticket for Sunday’s final round. Come check it out.