Reflector Article
June 2000
Glenda Jakubowski

Bad weather almost spoiled Friday's Celebrity Skins Game but with a few changes, and some confusion, the show went on.

Nearly 800 ticket holders expected the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Classic event to tee off at Greenville Country Club. Brook Valley Country Club hosted an abbreviated, nine-hole event instead.

"We thought we would have to cancel, but I called Brook Valley and found out they could handle it," tournament spokeswoman Emily Faulkner said after thunderstorms showered the area Thursday night.

Michael Jordan and crew entertained several hundred fans and raised thousands for the state's Ronald McDonald Houses during the seven-player event at Brook Valley.

Country singer Vince Gill, former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, baseball Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan, retired hockey player Dan Quinn, actor Alex Hyde-White and former Pittsburgh Penguins center Mario Lemieux joined Jordan on the links.

Nick Watson, general manager of Greenville Country Club, called tournament officials in the midst of Thursday's torrential rains and said the golfers would not be able to play at 10 a.m., the original start time. When Watson checked the course Friday morning, he determined the course was too wet for play.

"Green Mill Run came out of its banks, which incapacitates at least four holes of the golf course," Watson said.

Thursday night rains topped gauges at 2.39 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters predict sunny skies with highs in the 90s for regular tournament play today. The two-day event begins 9:30 a.m. with half the 50-celebrity field at Brook Valley and the other half at a private round at Greenville Country Club.

"If you can tell me it's not going to rain tonight, I can tell you there'll be play tomorrow," Watson said.

As for the skins event, the tee-off time was postponed to 1 p.m. Changes caused some scrambling for fans, volunteers and participants.

In some cases, the scramble was to get off the course, not on.

"They had practice rounds going on at Brook Valley today," Faulkner said. The course had to be cleared for the Skins Game golfers.

Some volunteer bus drivers took fans to the wrong golf course from the pick-up point next to the Hilton, officials said.

Box lunches for the volunteers also ended up at the Greenville club instead of Brook Valley.

Some fans, unaware of the shortened game, waited in vain for the celebrities on the back nine.

On the front nine, Michael Jordan was impeccable in khaki slacks and a red shirt that somehow seemed to remain wrinkle and perspiration-free throughout the day.

Hyde-White's wife and son walked the links with him, offering encouragement.

Amy Grant came with her daughter, Millie, and niece, Claire, to cheer on Gill and sign more than a few autographs herself.

"It's Amy Grant," a fan whispered, and Grant was surrounded by people asking for her signature, posing with their arms around her, while the occasional husband or wife chiding his or her better half for forgetting to turn the camera on before taking pictures.

Crowd controllers and scoreboard carriers and emergency medical technicians and water and soft drink vendors and caddies and dozens of other volunteers eventually ended up at their posts, carrying out their duties.

Through somewhat sloshy grounds and high temperatures and several yellowjacket stings, the fans persevered along with the celebrities to the ninth hole, where Gill won the puttoff and $18,000 for the Durham Ronald McDonald House.

Each hole during the game had a different dollar value. The lowest scoring golfer for the hole won that hole's dollar amount for one of four McDonald Houses in North Carolina.

By day's end, Quinn won $9,000 for the Chapel Hill house and Morgan, the big winner, garnered $23,000 for the Winston-Salem house.

The Greenville house was represented by Jordan, who apparently was having an off day. Jordan didn't win any of the holes Friday.

More Articles