A four-man scramble golf tournament and banquet to benefit East Marion High School’s baseball and football teams will kick off the newly revitalized Columbia Country Club on Oct. 21, the first official event for the country club under new owner Lawrence Lowe.
First-year Eagles baseball coach Janone Watts had helped put together a similar golf tournament at his previous school, Meridian High School, and wanted to bring it to East Marion to assist his new program. Watts and East Marion High School Interventionist and School Test Coordinator Kristen Hanson are working together to organize the event.
“We went and toured the facilities (at the Columbia Country Club), and it’s really nice,” Hanson said. “He’s bringing it back right. He’s even resodding the greens.”
Lowe said Tuesday afternoon that they will be resodding a new hole every other day, and everything will be ready to go by Oct. 21.
The East Marion baseball program just added a junior high team this year, which will be repurposing the varsity squad’s uniforms as its own, creating a need for the high school team to get new uniforms.
“We need an influx of money for baseball,” Watts said. “The golf tournament in Meridian does really well, so I wanted to bring it here and create something new to reach outside of what was already being done.”
Watts added that all of the schools should all support each other so that they can all succeed.
“We don’t want this event to be isolated,” Hanson said. “We want everybody to come.”
Lowe is excited to unveil the country club to the public and said it means a lot to start things off with East Marion. Lowe, a Columbia High School graduate, is a big supporter of his alma mater but said he wanted to give East Marion first dibs because it is the only school without a golf program and didn’t want it to be left out.
“I think it will be a great opportunity for the community to step up and do something for (East Marion) and, at the same time, have fun,” Lowe said.
The entry fee for the four-man scramble is $300, which includes tickets to the banquet. If you enter the tournament prior to Oct. 1, there is a $50 early bird discount. Tickets are also available to only attend the banquet for $50.
The first, second and third-place winners of the tournament will be announced at the banquet, which will feature ribs, chicken, green beans, loaded mashed potatoes, pound cake and red velvet cake from the KB Kitchen restaurant at the country club. There will be a live auction during the banquet as well, including items from area businesses and sports memorabilia from professional athletes with local ties.
The first tee time will be at 8 a.m.
