The 2024 MRNA Invitational
The first ever MRNA (Mom, Ruth, Nana, Altogether) Invitational will be held tomorrow on Thursday, April 11th. This would have been Ruth’s seventy-seventh birthday. Last year’s event was an Open. This year’s is an Invitational. The biggest difference between the two is last year we had two person teams and this year we’ll have four people on each team. We have people coming from across the country. My California kids will be competing. There are five teams altogether. Last year we had three.
During this year’s MRNA Invitational, we’ll have a prize for the team with the lowest score, a closest to the pin hole for both the women and men, and the final hole will feature the “circle of love”. MRNA wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s a scramble with the following rules.
- It’s a nine-hole event. The course features seven parr threes and three parr fours making parr for the course a total of 30.
- Each person will tee off from the tee of his/her choosing. That’s how MRNA played. There are five sets of tees. An individual may change tees from hole to hole. Pick what suits you best.
- After each person hits his/her initial shot, the team will select its best shot and each person will hit from there. This will continue until a ball is holed. One score for the team will be recorded on the official score card provided by the Invitational Committee Chairman.
- If the selected shot lies in a sand bunker, it must be thrown with a hand wedge. Any person who uses a golf club will have his/her team penalized two strokes. MRNA would approve.
- A prize will be awarded to the first-place team. Each member will receive a commemorative memento chosen by the Invitational Committee Chairman. The Committee Chairman is eligible for the coveted prize. There will be no awards for second place. Second place is the first loser.
- There are no Mulligans and no Gimmies. This is not a mamsy-pamsy tournament. It’s not namby-pamby either. One man’s gimmie is another’s three putt.
- You may roll the ball in both the fairway and rough. You’re gonna do it, so we might as well tell you it’s OK.
- In the event of a tie for first place, a scorecard playoff will be implemented at the sole discretion of the Committee Chairperson.
There’s a rumor that the course where the tournament will be played was an alligator preserve at one time. I can neither confirm, nor deny, whether the rumor is true or false. I did encounter this sign below when I visited the course the other day. One local told me that he carries a shotgun instead of a three wood. Make your own call and plan accordingly.
Respectfully submitted.
Robert A. Tebo
Invitational Committee Chairperson