KARZMER Greatest Golfer’s 10th tournament on deck

Two weeks ago, I went down to the The Vindicator offices and did a Vindy.com golf show with Todd Franko and Brian Tolnar (director of golf at Mill Creek Park). At the end of the show, we talked about how many more shows would come this summer. The future sounded exciting. Then, everything changed.

Writing a column this week without recognizing the devastating news that The Vindicator is ceasing operations next month just felt wrong. I’ve gotten a lot of calls and texts since the news came down asking if I knew what was coming.

Let’s be clear; I have a friendship with Todd Franko that dates to the beginning of Vindy’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley series of tournaments. He went out on a limb and gave me this platform to share my thoughts on the game I love. I write columns, send them to Todd and Ed Puskas (sports editor), and see them on Sunday. That’s the extent of my involvement with Vindicator operations.

I, like so many other in our community, was devastated to hear the news that broke June 28. Hopefully I will have a few more weeks to share my thoughts and conclude with an appropriate “good-bye/thank you” column. Until then, I’m going to continue to “talk golf” as I always have.

For remaining topics, I’m going to try to get a few important ones in before the end.

This week, I’m going to focus on the topic we discussed on Vindy.com, and that’s the 10th year of Greatest.

Todd and I have had many discussions over the years. The first ones started out around how to grow Greatest into a success.

My opinion was twofold. One, pay attention to the details within the event. If Todd and his team could put on a professionally run event that made the players “feel” like they were playing in something special, that would go a long way.

Two, we absolutely had to get the area’s best golfers to play.

When that first tournament in 2010 finished with a climactic duel between Michael Porter and Dick Marlowe, I knew we were off to a great start.

Obviously, money matters, and the ability to secure committed partners. Farmer’s National Bank, Superior Beverage, Ed Muransky and The Lake Club, and Covelli Enterprises gave Todd the validation needed to continue to build on that participation from year one.

By year four, I knew we had something special. The participation continued to grow. The best players in the Valley continued to play. And Todd and his team continued to treat the event as our area’s “major.” Because of all that (mostly the last one), The Vindicator’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley Championship has certainly become just that — our area’s “major” championship.

This year, there will be more than 1,000 entrants across I don’t even know how many events — Juniors, Scrambles, Women, Seniors and of course The Greatest.

The sponsors list has continued to grow.

The long drive and new closest to the pin contest at Tippecanoe under the lights will be a new highlight this year. And a new set of Valley Golfers will be crowned “Greatest Champions.”

It’s been a rough few weeks for my friends at The Vindicator. So here’s a positive thought for us to carry into next month — The Vindicator’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley will celebrate its 10th year next month.

Bigger and better than ever before.

Cheers to that.

Jonah Karzmer is a former golf professional who writes a Sunday golf column for The Vindicator. In his spare time he sells commercial insurance and loves getting feedback on his weekly columns via email at Jonah@thekarzmerinsurance.com.