So, How was the WMPO and the PGA Show?

Well, honestly, the ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am is probably more interesting, but, as you can see from our last post, we need to update our HisKingdom.golf news from the WMPO and the PGA Merchandise Show.

OK, so, the WMPO was both amazing and average.  As you may remember, our objective at the WMPO was to recruit as many golfers as possible with a passion for golf and a love for Jesus Christ to join us in "Telling YOUR Story" while enjoying the WMPO at TPC Scottsdale. We were to join Lewis Greer and Links Players International as well as the Tales from the Tour event being conducted January 31st to conduct our outreach.

We had about four folks that took us up on "Telling YOUR Story" and we hooked up with Lewis when we first arrived in Phoenix.  Lewis did an amazing job of staging the Tales from the Tour event and by God's grace had Ted Scott, Bubba's caddy, Aaron Baddeley, Tom Lehman and Andrew Yun, a young Web.com player, as speakers. Jeff Cranford, President of Links Players International was the host. It was very well done and had about 1300 folks attending.  We have a video clip below of Tom Lehman's speech. We were able to meet with Lewis and play golf with him and Micah Bechtel, one of the chaplains on the Tour, at Mesa Country Club. Lewis was more than gracious and we were thankful to meet him and participate in the event.

The best story from the week was when we met Nico, an 11 year old golfer, who joined us in the Armed Forces Tent on 18 fairway. Nico was a joy to speak with and a true golf lover. He and his dad were attending the WMPO for the fourth time or so and he was all about the Pros and the tournament. We were able to talk with him about the FCA Game Day & get him to visit our site for updates on next year's Game Day.  Nico was the highlight of our time at the WMPO.

Jim Esary and FCA - Golf's Game Day was Awesome

The actual WMPO was everything it was promoted to be and more.....

The weather was wonderful. Tuesday we participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Golf Game Day event hosted by Jim Esary, President of FCA - Golf.  It was amazing!!

Kevin Streelman, Ben Crane and Craig ________ played their practice round and allowed the FCA kids and their parents walk along with them, engaging with the kids so much that they were allowed to caddy and chat with the pros.  Following nine holes, we marshaled in a corporate tent on the left hand side of hole #18 and the pros gave their testimonies relative to their love for Christ.  Below is a video and a series of pictures from the day.  FCA Game Day is THE best golf spiritual engagement I have witnessed to date.

We attended the Thursday and Friday rounds of the WMPO with a crowd on Friday of 169,000 fans. It was nuts, but, was a wonderful experience on a marvelous golfing venue for the PGA Tour at TPC Scottsdale.  If you haven't already, you hafta plan a trip to the event.  After all, Phoenix in February, how can you lose??  We'll be there next year.

PGA Show?  Didn't go.

Oh, almost forgot, we did not attend the PGA Merchandise Show.  It was too difficult to travel from Phoenix to Orlando and not a great value for what we thought we would accomplish ministerially during the show.  Maybe next year.