As the elite mid-amateur game has evolved over the past several years, the Gasparilla Invitational has emerged as the official season kickoff for the American 25-and-older game.
And that is just how the members of Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in Tampa, Florida, would have it.
Played each February on the charming but challenging Palma Ceia (pronounced SAY-uh) course, the Gasparilla attracted more than 600 applications this year. It is a 54-hole competition with a 36-hole cut to the low 60 and ties.
The tournament began in 1932 as a PGA Tour event, the Gasparilla Open, with Paul Runyan winning the inaugural title at match play. The format was changed to stroke play, and Denny Shute won the next two editions before Walter Hagen claimed the final Gasparilla Open title, in 1935. All three Gasparilla winners would amass multiple major championships and eventually make the World Golf Hall of Fame. That’s a short but stout tournament pedigree.
After a 20-year hiatus, the event returned in 1956 as the Gasparilla Invitational, an amateur championship. Over the years, elite amateurs such as Buddy Alexander, Downing Gray and Bob Murphy took home the trophy. Eventually, the Gasparilla became simply a mid-amateur championship, albeit one with a strong senior contingent.
In 2015, a feeling emerged among some members that the tournament had slipped a bit, receding in national recognition. A member named Chuck Davis decided to rectify this. Believing that “great clubs host great events,” Davis set about re-energizing the Gasparilla Invitational. The field was shrunk and a recruiting effort was made to attract elite national-caliber mid-amateurs. A new logo was created, and a 35-pound highly unusual trophy was created for the champion. As much as anything, Davis got the membership to buy into the tournament restoration.
“It wasn’t easy,” said his successor, Kevin Dutkowsky, “but Chuck had the fortitude to push it forward.”
Dutkowsky serves as the tournament director, in addition to being a regular player in the field; he made the 36-hole cut this year for the 10th time in 13 outings. It’s a long week for Dutkowsky, beginning with a qualifier on Monday that had 100 players gunning for three spots. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he oversees infrastructure set-up and somehow squeezes in a practice round.
The biggest part of the job comes well before tournament week. Dutkowsky leads a committee that identifies and invites roughly 200 players after the conclusion of the previous year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur. The committee, guided by the World Amateur Golf Ranking, emphasizes USGA performance and looks for strong performers at the state level.
The Palma Ceia club champion earns an invitation, and a qualifying event for members in December adds 10 players to the final field. Thirty senior amateurs are invited to compete; the low senior is recognized, but there is not a senior flight per se.
Palma Ceia dates to 1916 when architect Tom Bendelow finished the original layout. It is thought that Donald Ross helped a bit, but it is certain that Ross made some changes in 1922. Bobby Weed was brought on in 2012 to clean up some drainage issues and to update the green complexes. The current design remains the original Bendelow routing: a par-70 course that tips out at 6,345 yards. Distance is not the differentiator at Palma Ceia; the Gasparilla champion will have a brilliant short game and deft putting touch.
Otherwise, as veteran amateur Gene Elliott quipped last week, "That little Palma Ceia will drive a guy crazy."
A key point that differentiates the Gasparilla Invitational from other mid-amateur tournaments is the involvement of the membership. Simply stated, the members embrace the week, and that is part of the charm of the tournament. Players and their families are members for a week and made to feel most welcome. Many players stay in members’ homes. “Our members are the lifeblood of the event,” Dutkowsky said.
It takes a special club culture to host an annual event such as the Gasparilla Invitational. It wasn’t so long ago that the members at Point O’ Woods Golf & Country Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan, essentially ran the Western Amateur off after hosting it for 38 consecutive years. The Western is now, as it was then, one of the top three amateur championships in the world. It created a glorious history at Point O’ Woods, with future major champions such as Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods listed among its champions. To a new generation of members, none of that meant much. The tradition never got handed down properly.
That’s not the case at Palma Ceia. Kudos to the membership and their respect for tradition. Long may the Gasparilla Invitational run.
E-MAIL JIM
Top: The Gasparilla Invitational trophy is unique among golf tournaments.
Courtesy Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club