SOUTHEAST DIRECTOR WINS PROFESSIONAL HICKORY CHAMPIONSHIP
Mark Harman from Ridgeland, SC, and newly appointed director of the Southeast Region of the USGTF, shot a 76 to win the U.S. Professional Hickory Golf Championship at the 100-year-old Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club outside of Tampa, Florida, on February 20. Harman is the first USGTF professional to win the event in its 13-year history.
Asked to comment, retired Southeast director and tournament chairman Mike Stevens said, “It’s great to see a fellow member of the organization break through and win the event. As for the tournament, it would have never come to fruition if not for the support of former president of the USGTF, Geoff Bryant. Geoff always believed that it was important for golf professionals to remember the roots of the game and pass its history on to peers and students alike. The USGTF title sponsorship of the tournament for several years while he was president allowed me to build it into what it is today. For that, I will always be grateful to him. Hope to see more of our members participate in the future.”
The tournament celebrates the Florida Open, a hickory event played at this venue in 1925, and the winner has his name affixed to the John Shippen Cup, named after America’s first golf professional. The cup resides permanently in the Temple Terrace clubhouse. Next year’s event is scheduled for Monday, February 19, 2024.
Before my current tenure as a teaching professional at an indoor studio with all the latest in video and launch monitor technology, I hadn’t really taught that many junior players. That all changed when I took my current position some six years ago.
I met Ignacio Placencia in March of 2022 when I started teaching at Montebello Golf Course in Montebello, California. This young man was on the driving range with the Bishop Mora Salesian High School golf team and was having a hard time with his swing. Being that I saw him with his golf team, I automatically assumed that they were there for lessons with their coach. I was right, but I could also see that Ignacio needed help – really needed help – before he hurt himself.
I gave him some instruction, and then a couple of weeks later he called me to sign up for lessons. Ignacio has put in the work and has been going through “the process.” He has grown so much in the game in such a short period of time due to his work ethic, discipline and desire to be good at the game of golf. He will play his last season on the golf team at Bishop Mora Salesian in the spring of 2023 and as his instructor, I am quite sure he is going to surprise everyone at how good he has become. I am proud of Ignacio for sticking with the process and he deserves this spotlight.
He wants to attend the University of Texas at Austin. The field that he is most interested in and that he plans to study is finance. He wants to be able to provide financial advice and information to families and individuals regarding financial planning and investing, and 
USGTF member Mike Givens is in his sixth year as the head men’s and women’s golf coach at Menlo College in Atherton, California. During his tenure at the NAIA school, Givens has led the men’s team to seven tournament victories, including setting tournament scoring records in five of them. Menlo was also ranked nationally for the first time as a program under his leadership. The women’s team has had an equally impressive run, winning six tournaments and seven players have been awarded as All American Scholar Athletes, including the highest Menlo College team GPA at 3.61 and ranked with the 10th highest team GPA in the nation.