At the awards ceremony on June 14, the Pro-Am formally recognized the long-term contributions of three people who, combined, have given the tournament over 100 years of support. Maybe you’re familiar with some of their names, but it’s likely that most people don’t know how or why these three first became involved in the event.

Ken Gorg
Ken Gorg, the long-time, now retired, head professional at Faribault Country Club, was the head of the Minnesota section of the PGA in 1971, when he heard that the Peters Open (sponsored by Peters Meat Co.), was going to be discontinued after having been played for about a dozen years at Southview Country Club. This was a major blow to local golf pros who had counted on the Peters, as it was one of the few competitive events they had the opportunity to play in at that time.

It was then that Gorg heard about Tapemark Company and two guys who wanted to start a new tournament to raise money for charity. Said Gorg, “Quite frankly, I don’t think anyone had ever tried using a golf tournament as a fundraiser, but Pat Cody and Bob Klas (Sr.) were pretty enthused about the idea, so it was hard not to get excited yourself. Plus the new event was going to replace the Peters and be played on the same course and on the same weekend as the Peters had been played. So it was a nice fit.”

Being a new concept, there was no blue print to follow. “We figured things out and had a lot of fun,” said Gorg. “I remember driving with Pat Cody to a Wisconsin Section PGA meeting to try to recruit pros to play in the Tapemark. Pat and I got to talking, laughing and trading stories and, before we knew it, we’d gone an hour and ten minutes past our destination.”

If you ask Gorg for his favorite Tapemark memories, he’s quick to tell about the time he shot a round of 62 while playing in the tournament. “But the post-tournament parties were the best part,” he said. “After the last trophy was presented Sunday evening, Pete Boerboon, Bob Klas, Pat Cody and I would retire to the bar… and stay there for a long time.”
Gorg has long since given up playing in the Pro-Am and two of his former party-goers are no longer with us. But he has no plans to give up his role as emcee of the Drawing Event, which he has been doing since that event was created. “The Tapemark is special,” said Gorg. “ I hope to stay involved until they ask me to step down.”

Pete Locke
If Ken Gorg has become known as the voice behind the microphone on Drawing Night, Pete Locke is recognized as the voice behind the mic that calls players to the tee box to start their rounds. Locke has watched or worked at every Pro-Am, going back to its beginning. But he’ll admit that even he doesn’t know when he first climbed behind the mic on Southview’s 10th tee. “I honestly don’t remember when Harlen (Hendrickson, the long-time starter on the first tee until his death in 2007) got me involved,” said Locke. “I once tried counting Tapemark golf shirts that I’ve received for volunteering to see if that would help me figure out how many years I’ve been doing this, but I really have no idea.”

Over the years, Locke has seen many players go through his tee box (he moved from the 10th tee to the first three years ago), and some can never be forgotten. “I remember one year a guy came from New York,” he said, “and it was obvious he wasn’t a golfer. He had gone into the pro shop just before he teed off and bought everything he needed to play. Shirt, shoes, hat, maybe even the clubs. The whole works. He wound up putting his shot to the 18th green into a barbeque pit. Poor guy, I’m not sure he knew which end of the club to hold.”

One guy that Locke remembers who did know how to hold a golf club was Tom Lehman. “I remember him winning (in 1990) when he was down and out,” he said. “Now look at him. He won the British Open after he won here. The Tapemark got him going.”

If you’ve watched both a guy who’s put a shot into a barbeque pit and Tom Lehman, you’ve probably seen the full range of golfing ability. But don’t think that means that Locke is ready to give up his microphone anytime soon. “As long as you need me and will put up with me,” he said, “I’ll keep coming back.“

Dick Nelson
Unlike Gorg and Locke, Dick Nelson has made his mark on the Pro-Am both as a co-host professional (his club, Indian Hills, co-hosted the tournament with Southview from 1980 to 1996) and as a player, rather than as an announcer. He will tell you that he’s played in every tournament but one, although he can’t recall which year he missed.

Interestingly, Nelson’s ties to the Tapemark tournament go back to, well, before there even was a tournament. “I remembered Bob Klas (Sr.) from my days at Como. I used to play there as a kid and I recalled that he played there as well. So it was pretty neat when Bob and I teamed up the second year (1973) to win the championship.” (The tournament format at the time was a 2-person, as opposed to today’s 4-person, Best Ball arrangement.) Recalling how they won, Nelson explained, “Bob really carried us,” a statement that reveals Nelson’s well-known modesty, and suggests that he’s figured out who to speak well of in order to get invited back to play in the event every year!

Nelson isn’t the only member of his family to have won the Pro-Am Team championship. He proudly boasts that his two sons, Tom (a golf pro himself) and Jeff also are past team champions.

Some might think that it’s a statistical oddity that three members of the same family have claimed a first-place trophy, but if you look at the high number of times that Dick’s teams have made the cut (he estimates that they make it about three out of every four years, which seems low), you get the sense that there’s more than plain luck involved. Nelson explains, “I try really hard to get my amateur partners to relax. I don’t overemphasize the scoring or ever tell them how many strokes the team needs to make up, or anything that will give them more to think about than just doing the best they can. We (the pros) have to remember that most amateurs aren’t accustomed to this kind of competition and many of them get extremely nervous. I see my job as just getting them to relax and enjoy the experience.” Nelson thought for another moment and then concluded, “When the tournament’s over I want my partners to say, ‘Dick Nelson sure was a lousy golfer, but we had a good time and did well.’” Based on history, it’s likely that Nelson’s partners often have said the last two things, but probably never the first.