Sunday, July 27, 2008

Legend's Reno-Tahoe Open

4U Management has 3 clients participating in this week's Legend's Reno-Tahoe Open. Ben Crane, Jason Allred, and Lee Janzen will tee it up Thursday at the Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada which was designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Jason Allred flew from the Canadian Open in Toronto after he completed his final round this afternoon to Portland, Oregon. He will be there for one full day as a participant tomorrow (Monday) in the 2008 Legend's Golf Classic hosted by Tommy Thayer, lead guitarist for the legendary rock group KISS. This event will feature famous music, sports and entertainment stars from the PGA TOUR, the NFL, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR. The host course for this classic is The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Aloha, Oregon. He will then fly from Portland to Reno-Tahoe. The life on the PGA Tour is often times very hectic with a great deal of travel and not much rest.

Another example of what most fans consider to be an off day that really is a work day is Lee Janzen's day Monday. Lee will participate tomorrow in a 4 player exhibition for one of his sponsors, IMI. The exhibition will be held at IMI's Martis Camp Project in North Lake Tahoe, California. The other 3 PGA TOUR golfers attending this exhibition are D.J. Trahan, Rickt Barnes and Tim Clark. He flew there from the Canadian Open.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

RBC Canadian Open

Lee Janzen and Jason Allred are the two 4U Management clients participating in this week's RBC Canadian Open which got under way this morning. This stop on the PGA TOUR is held at Glen Abbey Golf Club*Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The purse for this year's Canadian open is $5 million and the winner's share is $900,000.

Ben Crane, another 4U client will rejoin the tour next week at the Legend's Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno, Nevada after taking a few weeks off in the great Northwest. He has been in Idaho, Montana and Portland, Oregon. Rumor has it that he has sneaked in a little fly-fishing.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Dan Rountree

This is a happy day for me. Dan Rountree has agreed to allow Tommy Limbaugh and my company, 4U Management, to represent his business career. This is a completely new arena for me. My world has always been the world of sports. Dan and I became friends when I was Associate Athletic Director at the University of Alabama in 1987-88-89. We had known each other prior to that time.

Dan walked into my office in the Athletic Department in October 1988 and gave me a print of a water color he had painted, "Coming Home". It was a gift I cherish to this day. Alabama played all home football games in Birmingham in 1987 while we were expanding Bryant-Denny Stadium by upper-decking the west side of the stadium. The painting captured all of the color and pageantry of the opening game of the 1988 season in newly renovated Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Dan told me last week that head football coach Nick Saban had commissioned him to reintroduced the 1988 original water color "Coming Home". The painting now serves as a fund raiser for Coach Saban's personal charity, "Nick's Kids".

I hope this new relationship will be a good one for this good man, Dan Rountree. He has shown his art in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center to the Blu Gallery in San Jose, California as well as the Gallery on Fifth in Naples, Florida and the Crimson Gallery in Sedona, Arizona. He is a great artist!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The 102nd Southern Amateur Championship

Wet conditions greeted the players when they arrived at Lake Nona Golf Club for the 1st round of the 102nd Southern Amateur Championship Wednesday. Overcast skies prevailed and at times heavy rains halted play with half the field still on the course. The wet weather allowed the greens to be more receptive allowing golfers to be more aggressive. Three golfers fired 7 under par 65's and are the leaders in the clubhouse. Tim McKinney from Scottsdale, Arizona as well as Hudson Swafford from Tallahassee, Florida and Tim Schaetzel all share the lead.

This tournament has four players whose fathers won major championships on the PGA TOUR. The late Payne Stewart's son (Aaron), Greg Norman's son (Greg), Mark O'Meara's son (Shaun) and Lanny Wadkin's son (Travis) are in the field as well as Sam Saunders who is Arnold Palmers's grandson. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Acushnet and one of the most powerful men in golf also has a son in the field (Peter).

Monday, July 14, 2008

Southern Amateur at Lake Nona

Practice rounds began today and will continue tomorrow at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida for the 102nd Southern Amateur Championship. The participants are some of the top amateurs in the world. A large number of PGA TOUR Major Champion winners are past winners of this event. Lake Nona is the current home of numerous major champion winners most of whom are across the pond at the Open Championship this week. History says that a number of players in this Southern Amateur will become major champions on the PGA TOUR. Warm and humid conditions promise to greet these amateurs. The course and conditions should produce an outstanding champion.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Martin Ureta

4U client Martin Ureta finished the Southern Open tied for 18th with a total of 10 under par. Ted Brown shot a strong 62 at Cabarrus Country Club in Concord, North Carolina to win the Tar Heel Tour event with an impressive 16 under par and pocketed $22,000 prize money. The Tar Heel Tour moves next week to Lake Wylie, South Carolina for the River Hills Open.
Lee Janzen fired a bogey-free 5 under par 66 and is tied for 27th entering Sunday's final round of the John Deere Classic.

Monday, July 7, 2008

John Deere Classic

4U Management has three golfers participating in this week's PGA TOUR event the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois this week.

Ben Crane enters this week after making his 14th cut out of 15 events he has played in 2008. He has 3 top 10's and 7 top 25 finishes as he currently sits in the 48th position in FedEx Cup point standings. His winnings for the year total $1,227,393. He is ranked # 1 on tour in scrambling from inside 30 yards and in average distance of putts made. Ben is # 6 in total putting and # 8 in scoring average.

Jason Allred is making his 12th appearance in a PGA TOUR event this week. He is a native of Oregon as is Ben Crane. Jason was born in Ashland, Oregon on April 6, 1980 while Ben Crane was born in Portland, Oregon on March 6, 1976. Jason went to Pepperdine University while Ben went to the University of Oregon.

Two-time U.S. Open Champion Lee Janzen is participating in his 16th event of the 2008 PGA TOUR season. He also won the Player's Championship in 1995 which is considered to be the 5th major by many. His 8 victories have propelled him to 50th on the all-time money list at $13,711,503.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

AT&T National

4U Mnagement has two clients participating in this week's Tiger Woods AT&T National, Lee Janzen and Ben Crane.

Dr. Dick Coop

Success seems to be Dr. Dick Coop's middle name. He is recognized by many as the top Sport's Psychologist in the world. He has mentored PGA Tour golfers who have won dozens of major championships. His successes include many other sports including Major League Baseball, the NBA, NASCAR, NCAA football National Championship teams and NCAA basketball National Championship teams and many others.

He continues to work with champions. Early this year after working with Dr. Coop for a short period of time, Steve Lowery, won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at age 46. This was followed in June with a victory by another of Dr. Coop's clients, Justin Leonard. Justin won the St. Jude Championship in Memphis the week prior to this year's U.S. Open. This was Justin's 2nd win since he began working with Dick Coop a year and a half ago. The first was the Valero Texas Open last fall.

"I know the work I have put in with (teacher) Randy Smith and Dick Coop and my caddy, Brian Smith, and the support I've gotten at home from my wife and kids and parents and friends," said Justin Leonard after his victory in Memphis, "and when you can justify to them, you're sharing this victory with those people that pushed me to get better."

Dr. Dick Coop