9:30 AM – Round 3 of 11
“I’ve got multiple pairs of socks, underwear, shirts, and golf shoes, and I feel awesome.”
“I’m hoping for rain and a 25 mph north wind.”
“Let’s not hit a magnolia this time, boys!”
The 21 golfers who braved the heat to play 99 holes of golf in one day earlier this month were unanimous about one thing: they were undertaking this feat of endurance for the kids. With proceeds of the second annual OP99 tournament benefiting the Overton Park Junior Open, the Loren Roberts Scholarship Fund at First Tee Memphis, and Overton Park Conservancy, their pain was the junior golfers’ gain.
And they were ably assisted during the tournament by some of those golfers, as caddies with the Western Golf Association’s Chick Evans Scholarship Fund helped ferry their gear around the course. The caddies receive college assistance based in part on volunteering at events such as OP99. Their help was especially welcome since none of the golfers uses a cart during the tournament, which means they take more steps during the day than a marathon runner!
The tournament took around 14 hours from start to finish. This is hour #1.
2:30 PM – Round 7 of 11
“I’m on my third shirt, second hat, second pair of socks, and third dusting of my bathing suit area.”
“I’ve had 18 bottles of water.”
“Things got really spiritually dark for me on the eighth hole, but they’re getting brighter again.”
“I came really close to a hole in one on a par four. One foot away!”
“It’s going to take days to do all this laundry.”
Will Frazier, who organizes the OP99, says that he wasn’t sure they’d be able to complete the tournament before it got too dark. With six more golfers than last year, and a constant threat of rain, he was doing the math in his head all day. The first golfers teed off at 5:40 AM, and the final group finished 15 minutes after sunset. “All the people who came out and supported us are the reason we finished,” Will says. “The energy changed dramatically around 4:00 PM when friends and family got off work and came to encourage us.”
The golfers were still smiling as they got ready for their ninth circuit of the course.
5:00 PM – Round 9 of 11
“I started strong and faded in the middle, but I’m thinking about the kids and it’s giving me the spark.”
“I feel electric right now!”
“Vibes are high. On 9, 10, and 11, we’re going hard.”
After raising $61,000 last year, the golfers set an ambitious goal for 2025: break $100,000 in fundraising. As the day went on, the total crept up, and with all the birdies recorded, they realized they’d done it: over $105,000 raised for youth golf, course maintenance, and Overton Park.
Andy Cates, who serves on the Conservancy board and played in the tournament this year, says it’s exciting to see so many young people who are willing to raise funds and walk 30 miles in one day. “It’s a testament to Will and to the OP9 committee that they’ve opened up such a great opportunity to support the park. And oh yeah…it hurt. You get excited at 4:00 PM that you only have four rounds to go, but then you realize that’s actually five hours!”
“I told the guys that if this event was easy, everybody would do it. It’s a grind,” Will says. “But it’s all about the fact that 100 years ago, people got together and created this park and this golf course for us to enjoy. And we’re going to slog through heat and rain and mud if we have to so we can make sure it’s around for another 100.”
