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U.S. Open Interview with Course Owner and a Tournament Partner
18 May 2019 at 13:48 | Published by: PatPenguin | Views: 26510 | News search
Tega Cay, SC – The 22nd United States ProMiniGolf Association’s (USPMGA) U.S. Open will be held May 24th & 25th, returning to South Carolina, once the home of the Open. After more than a decade of being held in Myrtle Beach, home of the USPMGA Master’s, the U.S. Open first went on the move in 2008 to Dolphin Minigolf in Boothbay, Maine. Since then many courses have held the tournament with more recent years starting to see repeat visits to Open sites. This year marks the first in 3 years that the tournament has seen a new course to the players.
With that in mind our editor, Pat Sheridan caught up via email with Chris Scuderi, owner of Mr. Putty’s Fun Park, in Tega Cay, SC. In addition, Pat had an opportunity to chat via email with Kim Pecora, Director of Sales for the Hampton Inn & Suites in Fort Mill, SC, an official partner of the U.S. Open. He was interested to hear about how they both got connected with the U.S. Open and what they thought this new experience would bring for their respective businesses.
Minigolfnews (MGN): Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in the world
of being a miniature golf course owner.
Chris Scuderi (CS): I got into the world of Mini Golf ownership purely by chance as a person mentioned they thought that was something missing from the Fort Mill Area, so I did some research and decided to build a course and here we are.
MGN: When was the first time you heard about the USPMGA and big time
miniature golf tournaments? Had you heard of other smaller tournaments before? Kim - Did you have any sort of previous relationship with Mr. Putty’s?
CS: We discovered the USPMGA via Facebook and decided that we should try and host one on our course as its new and championship style layout, never been held in the upstate SC region (near Charlotte).
Kim Pecora (KP): I heard about the tournament from Chris last fall and we expressed interest in being a sponsor after doing some research about the US Open that happened in Myrtle Beach. This is a great event for Fort Mill and the exposure it will get our area.
MGN: What sets your course apart from other courses that have held the U.S. Open?
CS: Our Course is unique in the design, not an overly difficult course but one where the pro's will find the risk reward of the hole layouts very fun to play.
MGN: What made you want to be a sponsor of the event? What is the biggest benefit that you will get from being involved?
KP: We wanted to be a sponsor because of the unique event it is and we love to be involved in our community.
MGN: Where do you think the pros will struggle most on your course? Or
where are you most curious to see how they will adapt/overcome a particular challenge or obstacle?
CS: I think the pros will struggle on hole 3 or hole 15 as the angles on those holes are very tough to read.
MGN: You recently re-carpeted the course - what impact do you think that
will have on the tournament? I know some of the pros have played there already and many will arrive several days ahead of the tournament - do you think the course will play slower, bounce different, etc?
CS: The re-carpeting of the course was met with much resistance and push back from some pros that had logged many practice rounds. We initially got a defective batch of carpet so the old carpet was disintegrating at such a rapid rate that there was no way the USPMGA would declare the course "Tournament Ready". I was in a bind and we made the right decision. I am sure the course will play a little differently, slower, a different bounce here and there but heck, these are pros, they will adjust and they will all be fine. {Editor’s note: one of the few benefits of not being able to get to the course early means I’ll never have known the old carpet!)
MGN: Have you done anything else specifically to prepare for the U.S. Open?
CS: Aside from all of the logistics of the event we have just been preparing for months to put on a good tournament that the community and USPMGA feel are a success on all levels.
MGN: What do you think the USPMGA/professional putting can do to make supporting their events even more attractive?
KP: I think that this event could generate more interest by advertising it not only to the minigolf community but to the local and surrounding communities. Also, talk to local businesses about what it will do for the local community (i.e., Income and Exposure.)
MGN: Do you have any predictions for this year's tournament?
CS: I have a local player who I think is going to be my dark horse and place in the top 3. He battled back from serious illness and didn't think he would be able to play in tourney just 2 months ago but he is back and I am putting my chips on him to surprise a lot of people.
MGN: Will you (or any of your staff) be taking a trip out to the course to watch the tournament at all? If so, what are you most looking forward to seeing?
KP: Yes, myself and several people from our management team will be at the event. We are inviting whoever from our staff to join us there and we will have a display table there. I really want to see how serious the players are and their techniques.
MGN: What goal, if achieved, would make you call this a successful
tournament?
CS: I think the tournament will be a huge success due to all the planning that has gone into it and all the support from the sponsors the players and the USPMGA.
MGN: Is there anything else you'd like to mention about being partnered with the U.S. Open?
KP:This is a unique opportunity for us and our community. The team at Mr. Putty's is wonderful and we are ecstatic to be partnered with such a great bunch of people. We look forward to having the opportunity to host this event again in the future.
Thank you to Chris and Kim for taking some time to answer our questions. We’ll have a couple of blog posts around the open on the site and Minigolfnews will be back with final coverage of the tournament the week of May 27th.
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