Sour Mash Open tees off Monday

The following article first appeared in The Parkersburg News & Sentinel on July 8th, 2023.

The granddaddy of local golf tournaments will be held Monday when the 52nd annual Sour Mash Open tees off at the Parkersburg Country Club in Vienna.

Thirty-six four-golfer teams are registered for the tourney that gets underway with a 10 a.m. shotgun start.
“It just sold out so fast, we barely had to promote it,” said Stacy DeCicco, executive director of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley.

The United Way is the primary organizer and planner of the tournament, taking over from the Rotary Club of Parkersburg three years ago. The premiere United Way event provides funds for local non-profit agencies and initiatives and raises tens of thousands of dollars, more than $60,000 in the last several years.

Platinum Sponsors for the 2023 tournament are Richard and Liza Adams, Tri-State Roofing and Sheet Metal and Goodwill Industries of the Kanawha Valley, DeCicco said.

The tournament this year will honor the Ross Foundation and Sam Ross, a businessman and philanthropist who died in December. Past tournament honorees have included Pat and Judy Minnite, John Dudley and Mary Welch.

Part of the opening ceremonies will be about the foundation and Ross’ dedication and the legacy he left for the community, DeCicco said.

Among new Sour Mash activities is a kids STEM program at 8:30 a.m. about the science of golf, DeCicco said. Kids will learn about the potential and kinetic energies in the golf swing and the golf ball, which will be cut in half in the demonstration, she said.

Kids in the program will receive a kit while supplies last to take home so they can do their own golf-related science experiments.

“We’ve added a lot of fun things,” DeCicco said.

The Bourbon Trail on the putting green features a series of putts involving cordials and fifths in honor of the creation of the Sour Mash, DeCicco said. Legend is five golfers sitting around a table with a bottle of sour mash in the middle were discussing creating a new charitable fundraiser, hence the birth of the Sour Mash Open, she said.

A photograph of the five men may exist and DeCicco said she is trying to find it.

“We really tried to honor the history,” DeCicco.

Derek Lamely, a professional golfer, is the featured pro for 2023, DeCicco said. He’ll offer a clinic and exhibition at 9:15 a.m.

Lamely joined the PGA Tour in 2010. His tour win was in 2010 at the Puerto Rico Open.

The Sour Mash schedule is:

* 8 a.m., registration and breakfast

* 8:30 a.m., Kids STEM golf clinic

* 9:15 a.m., Lamely exhibition.

* 9:50 a.m., ceremonial shot

* 10 a.m., shotgun start

* 11 a.m., featured foursome tee off at No. 1

* 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., cook out at the halfway house

* 4 p.m., awards reception