With Says That’s Where It Belongs

After a one-year hiatus, the Albuquerque Men’s City Amateur Golf Championship is returning to city-owned courses with a renewed commitment from all involved.

The event, slated for July 6-8, opens at Los Altos Golf Course, moves to Arroyo del Oso for the second round and returns to Los Altos for the final round of the 54-hole tournament.

“Thank goodness,” said three-time champion Tim With, who didn’t play in last year’s tournament because it moved off the municipals. “Those are the courses I grew up playing, and they are the ones we should be playing. It’s nostalgia; it’s tradition.”

Ladera will not be included this year because its major renovation isn’t scheduled for completion until late June, and officials said they don’t know if it will be tournament ready in time.

The event is sponsored by CNM Turf Products, which has kicked in $10,000. Bueno Foods will be the food sponsor.

“We are exceptionally happy,” said director of golf at Los Altos Chris Moya, a former tournament director who still works closely with the event.

“After last year, we all sat down and said, ‘we really need to make this happen.’ It’s always been a tradition to have it at the city facilities, and last year left a very bad taste in our mouths, so we made it happen. ”

Dave Salas, golf superintendent for City Parks and Recreation, said “we received a lot of different comments about losing the tournament, and we started a drive last year to get it back on the courses. We felt it was important.”

The event, a long-time staple on the Albuquerque municipal courses, was moved to Desert Greens and Isleta Eagle golf clubs last year after tournament director Colby Reddoch said Parks and Recreation wanted to double its fee from previous years for the use of its courses.

Reddoch, now in his eighth year as tournament director, said the cost had been $15 per player per round during his first six years, but was upped to $30 last year. He said the extra cost would have come out of the tournament’s purse (gift certificates), which would have reduced from around $7,500 to about $5,500.

Parks and Rec will still charge the event about $30 per round this year, but the sponsorship will offset costs and allow the purse to grow to around $10,000.

“That’s our goal right now,” Reddoch said of the 10k. “We’re hoping to add some other sponsors, and we still have to work out some details.”

Reddoch says the entry fee was $170 last year, and “it won’t be any higher this year. We are hoping that it might be a little less.”

The entry fee includes greens fees, cart, lunch and range balls each day. In addition, more players will make the cut for the final round. In recent years, only 35 percent of the field made the 36-hole cut, but it will be increased to 50 percent this year.

The championship flight is for players with a 1.9 handicap or lower. There will also be a president’s flight (2.0-7.0 handicap), a senior flight and two net-scoring flights. Only 125 players were in the field last year, but Reddoch says they expect 160 for this year’s 68th annual competition.

Junior golfers (17-and-under) compete in the same flights as adults, but the low junior will also be honored.

“We definitely want to grow it from the standpoint of juniors — in the city and the region,” said Sandy Zuschlag, assistant director of City Parks and recreation. “Personally, I’m real excited to have it back. I like to walk the courses and follow some of these really good, young players.

“Parks and Rec and the (golf pros) are very excited. We want to make it newer, stronger and better.”

Zuschlag said that Ladera Golf Course will be included in next year’s rotation.

“We really look forward to including Ladera,” she said . “With the renovation, it will be new and exciting. We just didn’t know if it would ready this year.

“Our goal is to have a men’s tournament that we’re going to be proud of, and one that takes into the whole region.”

Until last year, the tournament had been held on the city-owned courses since the mid-1980s.

“It’s important to re-establish the tradition,” Moya said. “It was a joint effort between the city of Albuquerque as well as the golf professionals. We had to negotiate prices and reduce a few things. But thanks to Dave Salas and (assistant superintendent of golf) Tim Martinez, they added a big sponsor. That was a huge plus, and bringing Bueno Foods on board was the icing on the cake. Actually the green chile on the cake.”
— This article appeared on page B1 of the Albuquerque Journal