Walmart First Tee Open: “A Perfect Blend”

One of the unique events in sports begins Friday on the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links in the Monterey Peninsula. It’s the Walmart First Tee Open, a late-season event on the Champions Tour.

The event is the only major sporting event in which junior amateur players can compete with professional athletes.

The tournament has co-title sponsorship: Walmart is the world’s largest retailer; The First Tee National School Program, launched in 2004, introduces children to golf and core value programs.

The 78 pros in the field will compete for a $2.1 million purse and a $315,000 winner’s check. Simultaneously, each pro will be teamed with a junior player (age 14-18) in a pro-junior competition.

For junior golfers, it’s a close equivalent of a high school player competing an NBA or NFL game.

At the Walmart First Tee Open, now in its fifth year, junior contestants are selected from around the country based on life skills knowledge and golf proficiency, with the emphasis on life skills.

“Playing with the kids is really fun,” said Scott Simpson, the former U.S. Open winner on the PGA Tour who won the Walmart First Tee Open in 2006. “I heard about it even before I got on the Champions Tour about how much fun it was to play in the tournament.

“It’s special because of all us grew up being junior golfers, and it gives us a chance years later to spend a few days with another junior golf, especially with the First Tee program. They’ve done a great job, not only with junior golf, but really helping the kids learn what’s going to make them successful, not only in golf but in everything in life. It’s a perfect blend.”