Event Recap - May 17-20th 2017


A sincere thank you to everyone who competed in the 1st annual @Tour_Mindset Invitational presented by Perfect ProAms. We are immensely proud to have had such a fantastic group of golfers represent our first ever tournament field. We shared some incredible memories together and we look forward to creating many more.

For those who were lucky enough to participate in the first event, we invite you to relive all of the memorable moments below. And if you were unable to join in last time, we hope you'll take a sec to look over our recap of the 2017 @Tour_Mindset Invitational. Sign up for our future events and you'll see for yourself.

TO PROPERLY DISCOVER ALL THE FUN WE HAD AT THE 2017 TOUR_MINDSET INVITATIONAL PLEASE VIEW THE VIDEO BELOW:

May 18th: Round 1 begins...

1 pro + 1 am = ProAm Team

Each Pro-Am team competed in a Chapman format and enjoyed a variety of fun games on the course. We had hole-in-one contests and also a "Beat the Pro" station with Sean Shahi. The Chapman format proved to be a great way to start off the competition. The amateur in each team had the pleasure of playing from the Pro's drive all day, enjoying shorter yardages and more often than not, in the middle of the fairway. On the other hand, the Pro had to play from wherever the amateurs drive ended up, which sometimes required a little more of a creative touch.

On the range, before each round, Premier Fitness Systems (PFS) helped all the golfers get loose and also provided some fitness education to some of the pros. PFS is an innovative and highly respected fitness company based out of Scottsdale, AZ and is host to many of top PGA tour professionals during the offseason.

Day 1 continues...

Vision 54 Seminar

After lunch, Vision54 performed an exclusive seminar open only to our pro-am participants. Pros and Ams competing in the event were able to gain some valuable lessons from the Vision54 staff and use these mental strategies for the next two days of the competition.

In 2005, GOLF Magazine named VISION54’s flagship program, 54GOLF, the number one golf school in the U.S. They have have coached players to more than one hundred tour victories on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour and Ladies European Tour; including eight major LPGA Tour winners.


Junior Clinic with the First Tee of Phoenix

To cap off a great first day of the 2017 @Tour_Mindset Invitational, a select group of tour professionals performed a clinic for the junior golfers in the First Tee of Phoenix programs. This was a truly special occasion as the tour pros gave back to their former selves, passing on years of knowledge to the future stars of the game.


The clinic started with a fun game of “golf baseball” and finished with a long drive contest between Zach Cleland & Brian Hopkins, and the kids were the judges. You can see from these pictures how the kids decided the winner…

May 19th, Round 2: Team-play resumes and the Pro competition begins...

The second day of the pro-am event symbolized a unique change in atmosphere as the format switched to Best Ball and allowed each professional and amateur to play their own ball out. 9 male and 8 female professionals tee’d it up Friday morning to begin the 36-hole competition for $10,000 plus paid Q-school. The 2-person team competition continued from the round 1 scores.

At the end of round 2, Paul Imondi and Liv Cheng both fired opening rounds of 67 and stood atop their respective divisions. With one round to go, Paul Imondi held a one-stroke lead over Kevin Stanek, and Liv Cheng jumped out in front with a 5 stroke lead over Katelyn Wright.

Liv Cheng also recorded her first ever hole-in-one on the 9th hole during this round. Congratulations Liv!

Horse Race with the Pros

We were having such a great time hanging out after the round so we decided to host a horse race competition. Each team had one guy and one girl playing alternate shot format against each other until one team was left standing.

Katelyn Wright and Tyler Ostrovsky were crowned the horse race champions. Thanks to the Talking Stick Golf Club for allowing 18 people to play one hole at the same time, it was easily one of the top highlights of the event.

May 20th, Round 3: The Finale

The final round culminated the team and individual pro competitions. Groups were sent out in tee times starting at 11 AM. The final pairings included the leaders of the pro competition with their amateur partners right by their side. Each playing amateur in these final groups stepped inside the ropes and witnessed firsthand how the pros perform under pressure.

As each group stepped up to the first tee, they were greeted by the wonderful juniors of the First Tee of Phoenix. Each of the juniors interacted with the pro-am participants and launched ceremonial tee shots for each group. The kids that volunteered were so happy to meet all the pros and we had a number of donations to the program from our playing amateurs. We are proud to have raised $4,000 for the First Tee of Phoenix this week.

Competition Tightens Up:

Only 9 Holes Left...

The leaders in both the men's and women's division shot over par on the front nine, opening up the race to everyone in pursuit. On the men's side, Paul Imondi and Kevin Stanek shared the lead at 4 under par, Sam Saunders was one back at 3 under and Matt Hansen two back at 2 under par.

On the women's side, Liv Cheng stumbled early and lost her 5 stroke lead by the turn. Katelyn Wright stood atop at 1 under par with Liv Cheng one back at even par. Melissa Mabanta shot an even par front nine to pull into 3rd place.

Only 4 holes left...

Sam Saunders had pulled within just one stroke of lead through 32 holes. Sam sat at 5 under par and was looking to catch Paul Imondi, who just birdied holes 12 and 13 to lead by one (-6).

When the women's final group reached hole number 15, Liv Cheng and Katelyn Wright were tied at even par. They matched each other shot for shot coming down to the end with the entire pro-am field intently watching.

The Finish!

When Paul Imondi reached the leaderboard on hole #15, he saw that he only had a one-stroke lead over Sam Saunders and in that moment, he reacted like a true champion. Paul Imondi finished the tournament with 4 straight birdies (-10), earning an impressive 5 stroke victory over Sam Saunders and the rest of the mens field.

Katelyn Wright battled the entire round and had a putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff with Liv Cheng. Katelyn's putt just slid by the hole and with that miss, Liv Cheng was now your champion.

The winners of $10,000 plus paid Q-School

And now, to determine the overall Pro-Am team champions, we go to a playoff...

Each pro-am team was assigned to one of two flights based on the handicap of the amateur. The winner of each flight battled it out in a sudden-death playoff playing in alternate shot format.


P. Imondi/M. Ellis

vs

M. Hansen/D. Gallardo


Paul Imondi hit the tee shot for his team and laced it right down the middle. Paul's drive positioned his amateur partner, Mark Eliis, comfortably in the middle of the fairway. With the other team in trouble off of the tee, Mark had an opportunity to put the match away. He did just that. With the entire field watching, Mark put a great swing on the approach shot, sticking it only a couple feet from the hole. Paul Imondi soon tapped in the team birdie and the Pro-Am champions were official. Congratulations to Mark Ellis and Paul Imondi, the first ever Tour_Mindset Pro-Am team champions!

Pictured:

  • Damian Gallardo teeing off for his team
  • Mark Ellis, the winning shot from the fairway.

The Awards Party

We closed out the week with an Awards Party sponsored by ArcLiteInc. Beautiful and elegant tree lights were on display as we awarded all of our pro-am champions.

Thank you to our sponsors, golf course staff, and volunteer team for making this event such a huge success.


The Prize Breakdown for the Pros

Men

  1. Paul Imondi - $10,000 plus paid Q-School
  2. Sam Saunders - Free fitting and equipment provided by Srixon plus $500
  3. Matt Hansen - PFS training package plus SuperSpeed training system

Women

  1. Liv Cheng - $10,000 plus paid Qschool
  2. Katelyn Wright - Texas Women's Open exemption plus $500
  3. Melissa Mabanta - PFS training package plus SuperSpeed training system


The primary purpose of Perfect ProAms is to provide seed money for aspiring pros who’s only limitation is financial support. While our $10,000 winning prize for each champion won’t cover the cost of a typical starting pro’s annual tour expenses, it’s a jump start. We couldn’t have done this without the generosity and support of our playing amateurs.

Perfect ProAms provides an opportunity for golf enthusiast amateurs to help a group of aspiring pros get their shot and, at the same time, have a fun and competitive golfing experience inside the ropes. Our inaugural event in Scottsdale was a big success by most measures. Our goal is to increase the size of the field so we can provide the opportunity to even more aspiring pros as they look to fulfill their professional dream. Please spread the word to your golfing friends. Thanks to all who participated and hope to see you next year!