Anniston, AL – Waits and Winfrey their first official entry into the Sunny King Charity Classic, uploading their entry just two seconds after midnight.
by Al Muskewitz
Jared Waits did not sit around waiting. Inspiring by a friend’s suggestion that to jump on the opportunity as soon as it was announced that the Sunny King Charity Classic formally started registration to avoid similar fate to his friend last year. Waits hit the submit button for his application as soon when midnight arrived.
The online registration officially opened for the upcoming Classic until midnight Saturday. The registration of Waits and his partner Landon Winfrey went through at 12:00.02 a.m. which makes the team officially the first to participate in the Classic.
“I was getting ready to sleep,” said Waits, 29 years old Oxford physical therapist who was registered as having an 8-handicap. “Brad (Young) was not able to fill it last year, and I was constantly being hypnotized by him about the speed at which it was expected to be filled. I went ahead and prepared it and put it on my phone. Then, when it hit midnight, I filled it out. Then I fell asleep.
“What it means is that I do not have to worry about it at the moment.”
The 44th annual Classic will take place on Sept. 15-17, with traditional courses and formats as well, and if the last two years since the officials changed the event from September to any indication, spots will fill up quickly. Last year, it sold out in record time of just two weeks, which left Waits and his buddy Young to endure two months on the waitlist.
There were 40 teams that weren’t sponsored who registered in the initial 30 minutes of this year. More than 70 by mid-afternoon Saturday. The 210-team field is normally split 50-50 between open teams and sponsorship teams. If this is the rate of return, as one official of the tournament suggested that the field would be filled by the Monday.
“I do not think I was as concerned about it as I was worried about it,” said Winfrey, 35, who is the shop manager at his family’s electrical contracting business and a handicapped 6-handicap. “I thought we could have been in however he wanted to know for certain and not stress about it. And I didn’t wish to think about it when I was in vacation too So he was able to take care of us.
“He was at the high form. He might be on top of his game in a couple of months.”
This is the third consecutive year Waits along with Winfrey will be a team in the King. Their first year as a team they were 17th in Ford Bronco Championship B flight. In the previous year, they were with a T-31 finish within the Mustang Championship flight.
Fortunately, after all the long wait, Young was admitted last time, however he didn’t plan on making any bets this time. He followed the advice of his mentor and took advantage of the ball early.
“I did not think it would be that popular however, I was 13 the twelfth on the waiting list,” Young recalled. “Luckily I was able to get in the last few weeks before the event but many of my friends weren’t able to be able to get in. I had warned (Waits) several weeks ago about the date approaching and that I needed to be prepared for July 1st. I contacted him around 8 o’clock last night, don’t forget to check in tonight at midnight or the first thing in the morning to sign in. I think he was awake until midnight.”
Players can sign up through the tournament’s website, www.kingclassic.com. The registration process doesn’t end until paying the entry fee of $800 for each team, including Mulligans – or getting sponsored.
Gary Wigington and Ty Cole are the current champions.
