GREENSBORO, N.C. Seth Lomison, a high school student from Pfafftown, N.C. just outside Winston-Salem, will represent The First Tee of The Triad at the 2013 Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, an official Champions Tour event, it was announced today. The tournament on the famed seaside links of the Northern California coast, set for Sept. 27-29, will be televised internationally on Golf Channel. For broadcast times, click here.
“I am pretty excited about this trip,” Lomison said. “I really wasn’t expecting to have this opportunity this year so to get picked now is pretty special. I’ve seen the course on TV, and when I first started playing golf, I thought it would be pretty sweet to get to play there some day. As I started thinking I might be able to make a living playing golf someday, I started changing my mind a little. I went from thinking it could be cool to play there sometime to thinking I am going to play there. Now, it’s amazing that I am playing Pebble Beach this week – sooner than I ever imagined.”
Lomison, a home schooled, high school sophomore with a 3.7 handicap, will join 80 other participants from The First Tee chapters for the event, which is in its 10th year. He will be teamed a Champions Tour player and an amateur on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course on Friday and Saturday. The final round will be played on Pebble Beach on Sunday, where the Champions Tour winner will be crowned and the top-23 pro-junior teams will compete for their own championship.
Champions Tour players committed to play include World Golf Hall of Fame members Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson and Hale Irwin, who has the all-time winning record on the Champions Tour with 45 victories. Also several Champions Tour players in the hunt for the Charles Schwab Cup have committed, including David Frost and Duffy Waldorf. Kenny Perry, who is leading in Charles Schwab Cup points, will not play due to his daughter’s wedding.
“On behalf of everyone associated with the First Tee of the Triad, we are incredibly proud of Seth,” First Tee of the Triad CEO Mike Barber said. “The application process is pretty intense, and it’s quite an achievement for Seth to be playing at Pebble Beach this week. He is in store for a wonderful experience on a world-class golf course. He and his family are also doing some sightseeing while they are in California, so Seth will not only be playing a fantastic golf course with a Champions Tour golfer in his group, but he will also be learning new things about a wonderful part of our country.”
Lomison has been a First Tee of the Triad participant since the chapter was founded in 2008 and is now an ACE level student. More than 300 First Tee kids from throughout the United States applied to play in the Nature Valley First Tee Open. Applicants endured a rigorous application process including a handicap requirement, submitting resumes, five essays, letters of recommendation and personal interviews. The Nature Valley First Tee Open is the crowning achievement for all First Tee participants.
While in California, Lomison and his family will visit the Winchester Mansion and Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. He will play practice rounds at Del Monte Golf Course Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday or Thursday, he will pay Pebble Beach for the first time. Wednesday night, he attended the tournament’s pairings party and was paired with Champions Tour rookie Jeff Brehaut.
The First Tee of The Triad is one of 188 chapters around the country and in select international locations. Serving the Piedmont Triad since 2007, nearly 4,000 young people have been served through chapter programs and The First Tee National School Program, which is in 41 Piedmont Triad elementary schools reaching some 18,000 additional children throughout the school year.
To learn more about The First Tee of Triad visit www.firstteetriad.org . For more information on the 2013 Nature Valley First Tee Open, visit www.thefirstteeopen.com. For pairings and scores during the tournament, visit www.pgatour.com. For more information on Seth Lomison, to request an interview or photos, please contact Mike Barber using the contact information below.
About The First Tee:
The First Tee, an initiative of the World Golf Foundation, has as its mission, “To impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character-development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.” The goal of The First Tee is to provide the golf-learning facilities and the experience that will enable kids from every walk of life to partake of a game that teaches values for life and which can be played for a lifetime. The First Tee of the Triad operates at Tanglewood Park and Winston Lake Golf Course in Winston-Salem and Gillespie Golf Course in Greensboro. The First Tee of the Triad is one of 204 chapters operating at some 692 facilities in all 50 states and five foreign countries with more than 3 million participants. More than 3,300 schools also participate in the program. Founded by the World Golf Foundation in 1997, The First Tee is a way to bring golf to children that otherwise would not be exposed to the game or its positive values. The program is overseen and has the active support of committee members representing Augusta National Golf Club, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, PGA of America, PGA TOUR and the United States Golf Association. Former President George W. Bush serves as Honorary Chairman.
