CHAPTER STUDENTS SERVE AS COURSE REPORTERS

Chapter students Felipe Obando and Jacie Goodman served as roving PGA TOUR Junior Course Reporters at The Honda Classic. The students received inside the ropes media credentials and shadowed reporters preparing articles and videos for media publications. This experience is designed to enhance their communication and journalism skills. Jacie commented, “Course reporting is something I’ll never forget. Seeing these amazing professional golfers is life changing. The fact that I was able to interact with them and ask questions was incredible. The best part of being the course reporter was that finally met Rickie Fowler, which was amazing, even if I was freaking out every step of the way!” Felipe added, “I got the chance to interview, see, and talk to Joaquín Niemann, Emiliano Grillo, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka, and many more players. I was paired with Steve Waters from the Palm Beach Post and he guided us through the interviews. The experience was awesome!”

CHAPTER STUDENTS ATTEND WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP FORUM

The ninth annual Women’s Leadership Forum presented by The Honda Classic was an enlightening and educational event held Tuesday morning during tournament week. More than 200 women gathered at PGA National Resort & Spa and participated in an engaging morning on topics vital to their professional and personal development. The two leadership guest speakers were Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer at Endeavor and Michele Rigby Assad, a former undercover officer in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations Chapter female participants joined Coach Connie, Coach Gennifer, Board Member Maria Marino and Chapter Volunteer Coordinator Liz Alter to attend and enjoy the event to help them prepare for their academic and professional careers.

UTC CONTINUES GENEROUS SUPPORT OF VETERANS PROGRAMS

For the seventh consecutive year, United Technologies has provided our Chapter with a generous grant benefitting our programs serving Veterans. A check was presented in the amount of $35,000 in the Patriots Outpost (the tournament’s military appreciation tent sponsored by UTC) in the presence of hundreds of Veterans. Special shout out to our Veterans Bob Massimini, John Melvin and Tom Molloy for the inspiring support. “United Technologies continued incredible generosity has allowed our Veterans golf programs to expand every year,” said Bobby Hendel, Chapter President. “UTC allows us to conduct year-round golf programs for Veterans. These programs and the Patriots Outpost are a great way to thank our nation’s heroes.” In honor of the men and women who have and are currently serving our great nation, The Honda Classic in partnership with United Technologies offers complimentary tickets for Active Duty, Reservists, Retirees, their registered Dependents and Non-Retired Veterans Thursday through Sunday of tournament week.

HARRIS ENGLISH AND DENNIS WALTERS ROCK THE JUNIOR CLINIC

Hundreds of Chapter participants and area students visited The Honda Classic on Tuesday afternoon of tournament week for our annual First Tee Junior Clinic. Students attending from outreach programs included: Love Our Nation, Boys & Girls Club St. Lucie County, Samaritan Center, Boys & Girls Club Palm Beach County and the Special Olympics. Newly inducted World Golf of Hall member Dennis Walters put on a fantastic show with his new dog Gussie. This was Gussie’s first show. PGA TOUR Professional, Harris English joined the students for an afternoon of hitting shots and answering questions. He even hit a few shots with Chapter students Theo, Zoe, Tyler and Sebastian. Harris and Dennis signed many autographs and took tons of pictures with the students. A special thank you to The Honda Classic for hosting the Junior Clinic each year and for impacting our chapter with over $100,000 each year!

SUNGJAE IM WINS THE HONDA CLASSIC

Congratulations to Sungjae Im for winning the 2020 Honda Classic. Sungjae Im tamed The Bear Trap. The 21-year-old South Korean started fast and finished stronger Sunday, winning The Honda Classic by one shot over Mackenzie Hughes and Tommy Fleetwood for his first career PGA TOUR victory in his 50th attempt. Im shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday, finishing at 6 under to match the second-highest winning score since The Honda Classic moved to PGA National in 2007. He was the TOUR’s rookie of the year last season, plus has played more tournaments and more rounds than anyone since the 2018-19 season began nearly a year and a half ago. Mark your calendars. The 2021 Honda Classic will be played March 15 – 21, 2021.

ANNUAL CHAPTER AWARDS

Without caring mentors, positive youth development just does not happen. At The First Tee, we believe that a meaningful, quality relationship between the coaches, volunteers and participants is vital to our programs. Coach of the Year – Joe Gerard Joe was a previous Coach at The First Tee of Atlanta before joining our Chapter as a Level 1 Coach. Joe is dedicated to the program and very passionate to teach our participants. Joe has taken the lead in spearheading our Chapter Mentor Program. Volunteer of the Year – Liz Alter Liz is very dedicated to our Chapter as well as reliable, flexible, and a team player! Liz is passionate about our mission at The First Tee and always ready to help whenever we need her. Liz is currently our Chapter Volunteer Coordinator and, along with her husband, joined our planned giving Society of 1457. Participant of the Year – Jacie Goodman Jacie has been a Chapter participant for 5 years, currently at Eagle Level! Jacie is a very hard worker and a wonderful role model to our younger participants. Jacie is not only a participant but attends events and coaches. She has attended the 2019 Joe Louis Barrow Jr. Life Skills and Leadership Academy and is a member of the Teen Golfers Association Leadership Board.

CHAPTER PARTNERS WITH THE AJGA

We pride our work as a youth development organization that teaches The First Tee Life Skills curriculum to mentor our students to be better students, attend college and contributing responsible members of society. We also have many students that wish to play at a high level including middle school, high school and college golf. We even have our first student that has turned pro in Janelle Johnson. Chapter ACE students Tyler Mistretta and Sebastian Nachilly both recently began their playing careers with the AJGA. As a result, a new partnership has developed between our Chapter and the AJGA. The AJGA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf and the AJGA’s ACE grant. The AJGA raises money to conduct their championships, fund their ACE grant and support other local charities. To support the AJGA and our Chapter, please consider playing in the upcoming AJGA Junior-Am Tournament at Osprey Point Golf Course on May 22nd. Please CLICK HERE for more information, the entry form and sponsorship opportunities. The AJGA also accepts in-kind donations such as: • Staff Lodging –To cut costs they search for local families in the community to house an intern for the tournament week as they will have over 20 interns during the May event. • Staff Meals – local restaurants or families can donate meals for AJGA staff. • Product Donation – they are always in need of donated bottled water and fruit for the players at every AJGA event. • Staff vehicles – the AJGA is searching for a dealership or leasing company for use of vehicles for their staff during the May tournament. For more information regarding sponsoring or supporting the AJGA, please contact: Adam Rogers AJGA Regional Director – Florida (770) 825-1001 [email protected]

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS CONTINUE TO GROW- WELCOME KEISER

Chapter Directors John McMurray and Eric Wilson of Keiser University recently announced the College of Golf would be offering two active scholarships to chapter students beginning this fall. Students may earn the two-year associate or four-year bachelor’s degree. This is an incredible opportunity for our students! Our Chapter began offering four-year renewable college scholarships to our active students in 2014 when Trustee Jon Orszag (pictured above) designated a portion of his annual contribution to establish our first scholarshipfund. For the 2019-2020 school year we award $25,000 in college scholarships and have awarded over $100,000 since inception with additional assistance from Trustees Bob Simses and Morell Studios and Chapter Director Suzanne Klein. Current scholarship winners include Alexandra Dowd, Jarue Johnson, Savannah Mansueti (pictured left) Nyla Simms (pictured right) and Emily Valentine. Next, the Palm Beach County Golf Association, partnered with our chapter to offer a scholarship program they funded, which is administrated by Take Stock in Children, a local organization, that offers four years of high school mentoring in addition to the scholarship. Then a partnership was developed with the Western Golf Association and their Evans Scholars program. Evans Scholars earn a four-year full tuition and room and board scholarship by caddying. Our Chapter currently has four students caddying at Seminole Golf Club and Old Marsh with plans to apply for the Evans during their senior years. Additionally, The Bear’s Club was the first local club to offer the Evans Scholars program to deserving high school students. Lastly, The First Tee home office has recently announced a new national College Scholarship Program. Scholarships are up to $5,000 per year, renewable for up to four years of college admission. The program also provides professional development workshops, access to internships and full-time employment placement post-graduation.

50/50 RAFFLE IS BACK AT THE HONDA CLASSIC

Back by popular demand, please support our Chapter and enter to win our 50/50 Raffle. Our goal is to raise $10,000 or more and the winner receives 50% of all donations collected. Entries can be purchased starting at $1. There are two ways to enter: For a secure online donation please CLICK HERE, or come see us at The Tee Times expo tent at The Honda Classic tournament entrance. The Tee Times will also conduct a FREE raffle for prizes at their expo tent, including a two-person team to the 2021 Monday after The Honda Invitational.

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE HONDA CLASSIC JUNIOR CLINIC

It is almost time for the biggest sporting event in Palm Beach County as The Honda Classic is just days away. The tournament is a Founding Partner of our Chapter. proceeds from the tournament benefit many South Florida charities. Our Chapter hosts the following events tournament week: • The First Tee Junior Clinic is FREE and held Tuesday, February 25th at 4:00pm featuring PGA TOUR Professional Harris English and Dennis Walters with his new dog Gussie. CLICK HERE for more information and the clinic flier. • The First Tee Invitational held Monday March 2nd at 8:00am. We play the Sunday pins from the PGA TOUR event! CLICK HERE for more information and to enter the tournament. Hurry, it is almost full! Please CLICK HERE for all the exciting events that occur during tournament week. NEED HONDA TICKETS? To purchase tickets by phone, call 1-844-8HONDA8 (1-844-846-6328) or CLICK HERE.

GODSPEED BLUE LEADER

In late 2019, our Chapter lost a great friend in Trustee Dean Woodman. “Woody,” as he was known by all his friends, was a lifelong golfer and immediately embraced The First Tee during his first visit to the Finnegan Learning Center in Dyer Park. “He dropped by one day to donate golf clubs and just started asking questions about our organization,” said Executive Director Carl Mistretta. “When I told Woody we make it all happen for our children and veterans mostly through donations, he immediately wanted to help. A few weeks later he was a Trustee and enjoyed every minute of supporting our chapter and the national organization. We became fast friends and I miss him a great deal.” (Pictured above middle: Woodman and Carl Mistretta. Above right: Dean’s wife-Jane Woodman with Honorary Chairman of The First Tee- President George Bush and Woody.) Woodman was a pioneer investment banker, life-long sailor, scratch golfer, private investor and philanthropist. He suffered an aortic rupture New Year’s Eve 2018 while visiting family in California and never fully recovered. He was 91. He is survived by his wife Jane Baumer Woodman of 38 years. Woodman was born in Chicago in 1928 to a Quaker family. In 1946, he graduated from the Moses Brown School, a “Friends” college preparatory school in Providence, RI, that believes “education should foster a spirit of inquiry and an ability to apply factual knowledge to solve real-world problems creatively,” which Woodman embraced his entire life. He graduated from Amherst College in 1950 with a double major in economics and English Literature where he played baseball and sharpened his financial analytical skills during very profitable marathon bridge games. During the Korean War (1951-55) he was a U.S. Navy Cougar jet pilot accumulating 2,100 flying hours and 176 carrier landings while acquiring the call sign “Blue Leader.” Woodman, known as “Woody” during his youth, “Deano” during his business career and “Woody” once again in retirement, was one of the leading financial architects of numerous corporate financings, mergers and acquisitions. His career spanned over 60 years and he especially delighted in providing advice and counsel to entrepreneurs, many of whom went on to publicly launch their ventures. Woodman began his investment banking career with Merrill Lynch in New York City in 1956 and in 1965 he opened its first branch investment banking office in San Francisco and then a subsidiary in Los Angeles in 1971. The San Francisco office was the first branch banking office in the history of Wall Street. Merrill Lynch was so successful that in short order virtually all of New York banking firms opened West Coast offices to be closer to the burgeoning Silicon Valley and other fast-growing West Coast companies. Woodman served as principal banker to clients including Bank of America, Safeway Stores, Wells Fargo, Albertsons, Atlantic Richfield, Allied Signal, U.S. Leasing, Smith International, Garrett Air Research, Douglas Aircraft, Longs Drugs, The Gap, Denny’s Restaurants, Western Airlines and Willamette Industries. He also acted as senior advisor to Hughes Tool Company and Hughes Aircraft Company. Woodman left Merrill, the largest banking company in 1978 to become a founding partner of two boutique New York Stock Exchange investment-banking firms that financed technology, life science, retail and other emerging growth companies. First, Robertson, Colman, Stephens & Woodman, then Woodman, Kirkpatrick & Gilbreath, selling the latter to Hambrecht & Quist LLC where he remained as Managing Director-Investment Banking Group. He subsequently was Managing Director at Furman Selz LLC and Managing Director at ING Barings LLC. In 1993 Mr. Woodman proudly became a co-founder, providing 90% of the initial capital for, and was the early chairman of GoPro Inc., the company created by his son Nick, which became the fastest selling sports video camera in history. Following his retirement and move to Palm Beach in 2011 Mr. Woodman continued as an advisor and investor in numerous emerging companies, becoming an early investor in Luminar Technologies, Inc. of Orlando. The company works with 12 of the top 15 automakers with its LiDAR advanced sensor system for the autonomous vehicle industry. At the time of his death he was a director of MarineMax, Inc., Triad Semiconductor, Inc. Medallion Bank, Joi Scientific and Airwire. The Woodman’s philanthropy of late focused on The First Tee and his alma mater, The Moses Brown School. In 2013 he and his wife, Jane, made the largest gift in the school’s 235-year history to create the Woodman Family Community and Performance Center and to support the total renovation of the Walter Jones Library, originally a gymnasium built circa 1900 by Dean’s great-grandfather, Augustine Jones, then head of school. The Woodman Center, opened in 2016, is a 36,000 sq. ft., 500-seat venue that hosts artistic and intellectual events for Moses Brown and the broader Providence community. The Woodman’s made the gift in honor of his Quaker family’s five-generation commitment to the school. Woodman was a member of the San Francisco Golf Club, Burlingame Country Club, New York Yacht Club, The Sailfish Club and The Beach Club. Woodman was predeceased by a two-year-old son, Todd V. Woodman. He is survived by children Curtis Woodman, Nick (Jill) Woodman and Pilar Woodman, who called him “Pops,” Andrea W. Moody (Bo), stepson, Dr. David (Christine) Dawson and, by brother-in-law Dick Baumer and godson Ted Swindells, grandchildren, Sebastian Woodman, Hugo, Duke and Bodhi Woodman, Oliver and Teddy Moody, step grandchildren Kendall and Dane Dawson, nephews, Michael (Michelle) Baumer, Stephen Baumer, and Christopher (Bridget) Baumer. His final year, his personal companion was Epeli Viesa, a Fijian gentleman who possessed all of the qualities Woodman admired in a friendship. Dean exhibited a dedication to principle and held himself to the highest of personal standards. He filled his homes with wonderful music and a constant supply of books to read, had a memorable sartorial style, made friends easily and kept them forever. A Spring Memorial service is planned.