Patriot All-America tournament a meaningful experience for Shaw
LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. – Over the course of his playing career, sophomore Claremont McKenna College and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps All-American men's golfer Jonathan Shaw (CMC) has played in his fair share of tournaments. The last tournament Shaw played in, the Patriot All-America, might have been the most unique and personally meaningful to him though because of its military connection and also the talent of the golfers in the field.
Shaw was selected as an honorable mention All-American by PING in June after an extremely successful freshman season. His All-America status earned him an invitation from the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) to play in the recent Patriot All-America tournament held Dec. 27-31 at The Wigwam Arizona resort, located near Phoenix.
The prestigious Patriot All-America three-round tournament featured 85 golfers who had been selected as current year PING All-Americans at either the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and NJCAA Divisions I and II levels, along with golfers from the United States Military Academies.
Each individual who participated in the tournament played the tournament with an embroidered golf bag, donated by PING that had the name, rank and service of a fallen or severely wounded United States military member on the bag. Shaw had the name of Army Sgt. Kenneth E. Locker Jr. embroidered on his golf bag, to honor the fallen veteran. Locker, a Purple Heart recipient, was killed in action on April 23, 2007 by a suicide bomber while serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"I thought this tournament was special because there was another dimension besides golf," Shaw said. "You could be playing poor golf or you could be playing great golf but there was something larger to the event. Carrying the golf bag and being reminded the whole time that you were honoring a fallen soldier really puts things in perspective. There are a lot more important aspects to life than golf. It makes you appreciate things a lot more."
The golf bags were presented to the players by the Event Chairman during the opening ceremonies, which were on Sunday, Dec. 27. At the start of the tournament, each player signed his own golf bag and during each of the three rounds, each golfer in the field signed the bags of the other competitors. Then at the conclusion of the event, the golf bags were sent back to each golfer's school, to be auctioned off to benefit the Folds of Honor Foundation. The proceeds from each of the 85 golf bags that are sold then go back to the Folds of Honor Foundation, a charity that provides educational support to spouses and children of America's fallen and wounded soldiers.
Also to honor the military, participants were given an extensive tour of nearby Luke Air Force Base where the Air Force trains F-16 and F-35 pilots. The golfers were shown several planes. They also had the opportunity to fly in an F-16 simulator which pilots use to train.
The tournament officially began with the opening ceremony where an Army Cobra helicopter served as the backdrop, while parachute jumpers dropped in from above to the opening ceremony with flags flying behind them. Shaw can be seen in this brief video clip of the opening ceremony played on ESPN's SportsCenter.
"It was quite an event," Shaw said referring to the military tie-ins with the tournament. "It was pretty special."
On the golf course, Shaw competed against some of the most talented collegiate golfers in the country and he faced a course that proved to be quite difficult as well, putting it mildly.
"The course was playing brutal," Shaw said. "Tee to green, the course wasn't too difficult, but the green complexes were diabolical. The slopes, combined with tough pin locations and really firm and fast conditions, made them quite challenging. It forced you play smart. "
With a field consisting solely of collegiate All-Americans at various levels, only three of 80-plus golfers finished under par, and just barely at that. The tournament winner, Braden Thornberry of the University of Mississippi, won the event with a three-round score of 211, 2-under par. Shaw posted a score of 237 with his best round coming in the final round when he had a 3-over par, 74. The average score for everyone in the field was 5-over par.
The first round of the 54-hole tournament teed off on Tuesday, Dec. 29 with the second round on Dec. 30 and final round on Dec. 31.
Please visit the 2015 Patriot All-America webpage for more information.
The CMS men's golf team's regular season begins on Feb. 6-7 with the SCIAC No. 1 Tournament at Tukwet Canyon Golf Course in Beaumont, Calif.
By Chris Watts
Director of Athletics Communication
Claremont McKenna College
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