The Kandy Waters Memorial Classic
Goshen Plantation Golf Club
September 14-17, 2006

Article by: David Westin-Augusta Chronicle

The Kandy Waters Memorial Classic is finally where title sponsor L.D. Waters always wanted it.

In its previous stops, the National Golf Association/Hooters Tour event never quite fit, Waters said, because it wasn't in Augusta.

Waters, the owner of Bonaventure Discount Golf, lives in Augusta, and is it where his late wife, Kandy Waters, played most of her golf.

Seven years and three courses later, the tournament makes its Augusta debut today at Goshen Plantation Golf Club.

Previously, it was played at North Augusta's River Golf Club (2000-02) and Savannah Lakes Resort in McCormick, S.C. (2003-04).

Waters relinquished the title sponsor role to Savannah Lakes starting in 2005, but he kept his ties to the tournament by playing host to the Kandy Waters Pro-Am during the event the past two years.

Now he has his old tournament back, Waters is no longer associated with the Savannah Lakes event, which is held in April.

"I've said all along we were eventually going to have it in Augusta," Waters said. "Because it's in Augusta, that means a lot. Even when we had it across the river (at the River Golf Club) we had people wanting to know why we didn't have it in Augusta."

The problem with getting the tournament in Augusta in the early years had to do with the money courses were asking to give up their course for a week to play host to the tournament.

"There were always bids, but they were a little too high to bring it in town," Waters said. "That's the reason we went to the River Club, then Savannah Lakes cut us a deal we couldn't refuse."

Once Waters decided to cut his ties with Savannah Lakes, he was determined to revive the tournament and put it in Augusta.

The two best offers from courses came from Goshen and Grovetown's Bartram Trail.

"Those two courses came close to a figure we could live with," Waters said. "Goshen just went out of its way and said they would do whatever they had to do to bring it to Goshen."

There was another reason why Waters went with Goshen. It is the home course of Augusta's Vaughn Taylor, a two-time PGA Tour winner who will play in the Ryder Cup next week in Ireland.

"Vaughn played in about four of these (Kandy Waters) tournaments and this is his home course," Waters said. "I just figured I owed it to him to bring it to Goshen. That's probably the main reason more than anything else."

Kandy Waters, who died in 1998 at age 65 from emphysema, was an avid golfer who carried a 12-handicap and was a member at Augusta's Green Meadows Country Club and Aiken's Houndslake Country Club.

"She was one of the first ladies at Green Meadows, but she played all over," Waters said. "If there was a women's tournament, she'd play in it. She wasn't that good a golfer, but she loved it that much."

Waters said his wife was so proud when she placed in a mixed team tournament that she framed in a four-line, agate type article from The Augusta Chronicle that reported the results.

"I've still got it at home," Waters said.

When his wife died, L.D. Waters wanted to honor her with a two-day local tournament. That idea grew into a Hooters Tour event when L.D. Waters' nephew, Robin Waters, the Hooters Tour president, heard about his uncle's tentative plan.

"My nephew was just as crazy about her as if she was his mother," Waters said. "He said, 'why don't we try to have a Hooters Tour event?' I said, 'you put the figures together and we'll talk about it,' "

Now that the tournament has his wife's name on it again, Waters is bringing back his "birdie bonus."

It goes like this: After the tournament, the most difficult hole statistically in the tournament is determined and the winner comes back out to play it.

If he birdies the hole, he wins a $20,000 bonus in addition to his $24,000 first-place check.

"If you've been around golf as long as I have, you know those boys are struggling," said Waters, who has been in the golf business since 1955. "Anything you can do to help them and give them a little bit more momentum is good for them."Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.