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Colonial officials offer holiday season discounts on 2011 tickets

Officials at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial are offering discounted tickets for the 2011 tournament to shoppers during the holiday season. Special holiday rates are in effect through Dec. 31 for grounds badges ($90), daily tickets ($40) and Champions Club VIP badges ($200). All of those prices are at least 10 percent below regular retail prices to the 2011 PGA Tour event, scheduled May 16-22 at Colonial Country Club.

Other items available at discounted holiday prices include access to the Hogan Club at 18 Skybox ($195 daily or $750 weekly) and a week-long parking pass for the TCU lot ($30). Colonial’s “2-fer” package _  two grounds badges, two TCU parking passes and two $25 cash cards good for on-course refreshments or souvenirs _ sells for $300.

For more information, visit www.crowneplazainvitational.com or call the “holiday hotline” at 817-840-2219.

_ Jimmy Burch

Patriot Golf Day sets fund-raising record in 2010

Based on figures released by the PGA of America, the 2010 Patriot Golf Day raised more than $2.7 million in scholarship funds for children and spouses of military service men and women killed or disabled in the line of duty. That represents a record amount for the fourth-year program.
Several D-FW courses took part in the national initiative, held during Labor Day Weekend, in which golfers were asked to donate at least $1 for each round to the Folds of Honor Foundation, which provides the scholarships. The 2010 total, announced Nov. 3, means the annual event has raised more than $8 million since it began in 2007.

_ Jimmy Burch

LDA to donate unclaimed prize money to charities

The Long Drivers of America, based in Roanoke, will donate $70,000 of unclaimed prize money from the 2010 Re/Max World Long Drive Championship to various charities, including the Children’s Miracle Network, Autism Society of America and Wounded Warrior Project. The funds were available because Domenic Mazza, 16, chose to retain his amateur status rather than accept a $70,000 check for finishing second in the Open Division at last week’s world championship event in Mesquite, Nev. Mazza is a two-sport standout in high school (baseball, golf) who is pondering a college career.

_ Jimmy Burch

Hardin's triumph historic for Fort Worth, Mexico

Fort Worth resident Mina Hardin, a native of Mexico City, stood as a pioneer for Mexican golf long before she took her place as a national champion at the 2010 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.

Two decades before the world knew about Lorena Ochoa, Hardin became Mexico’s first LPGA Tour competitor during the 1980s while playing under her maiden name, Mina Rodriguez. But by winning the Senior Women’s Amateur title last month in Fort Myers, Fla., Hardin achieved something no other Mexican golfer _ male or female _ had ever done: She won a USGA event.

“It’s been a privilege to put that on my resume,” said Hardin, 50, who regained her amateur status in 1991 after leaving the LPGA Tour in 1989. “It’s the pinnacle of anyone’s career to win a USGA event. To be the first Mexican golfer to win one … that’s a dream come true.”

With her title, Hardin also broke fresh ground on the local front. She became the first female golfer from Fort Worth to win a USGA event by knocking off Alexandra Frazier, 2 and 1, in the final match at Fiddlesticks Country Club. Although she maintains her Mexican citizenship, Hardin said: “I call Fort Worth ‘home.’”

Hardin, who moved to Fort Worth in 1991, plays out of Mira Vista Country Club _ where she is a 13-time women’s club champion _ and may be the only athlete in Tarrant County who had a better October than the Texas Rangers. The American League champs won two-of-three playoff series on their way to the franchise’s first World Series.

Hardin won three high-profile events in three attempts. In addition to her national title, Hardin also won the women’s division of the ESPN Golf Connection Tournament of Champions _ open to club champions from courses in North Texas _ and capped the month with a victory at the Senior Southern Women’s Amateur, an event in Texarkana with competitors from eight states.

“It was a great October,” Hardin said. “It’s wonderful to win a national championship.”

Especially when it makes you a golf pioneer. In your home country as well as your adopted hometown.

_ Jimmy Burch