Bobby Jones Golf Course

Victory at World Woods has to be a 10 for Hronek

But then again, North Port to Sarasota is just an average tee shot for the big hitting Hronek, and this time he will be armed with $5,000 to spend.

On a scale of one to 10, last Tuesday's victory at World Woods has to be a 10 for North Port's Hronek, the first assistant at the Plantation Golf and Country Club.

Hronek overwhelmed the field in the North Florida PGA Championship, winning by six strokes. It is one of the most significant tournaments in Florida for club pros.

Hronek birdied all but one of the par 5s in shooting rounds of 68-67 — 135.

"I drove the ball very well," he said. "I was just very consistent and putted fairly well."

That he did, rolling in a 25-footer on the 10th hole in the first round of the two-day tournament. The three-time Southwestern Chapter champ picked up a check for $5,000. But more importantly, the victory earned him an automatic exemption into next year's National Club Pro Championship, which is as good as it gets for working club pros.

Mark Rummings, who won the Southwestern Chapter Championship in June, tied for 32nd, along with Sarasota National assistant Charley Darbyshire. Rummings is a director at IMG Academies.

Lamielle gets help from Mooney graduate

Craig Pratt says his claim to fame was winning the Greater Sarasota Junior Golf Association Tournament of Champions by shooting a 72 at Bobby Jones Golf Club.

"It was only because all the good players were competing in some other tournament," he joked.

Some of those other good players were Mark Leetzow, Mark Walters and good friend Mike McClellan, all of whom had success on the amateur and pro circuits since then.

Pratt, a 1988 Cardinal Mooney graduate, thought he would pursue a career in the golf business.

He went to Ferris State in Michigan and worked with Jim Flick after graduation. He also worked as an assistant at Orchard Lake Club and eventually found his niche in sales outside of golf.

Along the way, he got some breaks. So when he found out via reading about Joey Lamielle on the internet (wwww.heraldtribune.com), he wanted to help. He tried to put a group of investors together in Michigan to sponsor Lamielle on the mini-tours but he got no takers.

So what did he do?

"I wrote him a check for 10 grand," he said. "I like his attitude and everybody deserves a break."

With Pratt's help, Sarasota's Lamielle, who qualified for the 2008 and 2011 U.S. Opens, is playing the Dakota Tour this summer. He cashed his first check last week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Rare prairie dog creating buzz at Bobby Jones Golf Club ...

The 10-inch brown prairie dog with a short curly tail pops up like a periscope when golfers pass by the dirt pile he has kicked out around his home-in-a-hole just off the cart path on the first hole of the British Course at Bobby Jones.

In contrast to the famous golf movie “Caddyshack,” where Bill Murray’s character used explosives to oust a singing and dancing gopher, officials at Bobby Jones have cordoned off the area with yellow rope to protect their new resident.

In doing so, the prairie dog has quickly become the talk of the town at the municipal course off Fruitville Road in Sarasota.

“He’s a new conversation piece at Bobby Jones Golf Club,” said golf pro Christian Martin. “It’s a buzz right now for sure.”

Part of the attraction is the mystery of the dog’s origin, since prairie dogs are not native to Florida. In fact, National Geographic reports that the black-tailed prairie dog has an American range that covers millions of acres in the Great Plains, but only reaches as far east as Missouri.

Gophers are more common on golf courses, but the Bobby Jones critter, with its big eyes and wispy tail, is clearly not a gopher.

Martin said the animal first popped up a couple weeks ago, and he and other course employees decided to let him hang around. Unless, that is, he gets too crazy with his natural tendency to dig.

“We’re not in the eradication business; we like to peacefully coexist with Mother Nature as long as possible,” Martin said. “It’s a pretty cool little critter, and I just hope it doesn’t dig up the golf course.”

“He’s not afraid of anyone,” said golfer George Smith as he passed the dog’s hole this morning. “Boy, look at that, they really do dig, don’t they.”

Though his home on Hole 1 is obvious to anyone who approaches, his tunnel likely leads to a labyrinthine burrow complete with a nursery, sleeping quarters and even a prairie dog toilet, according to National Geographic’s web site. Prairie dogs, a member of the squirrel family, eat grasses and roots, and live about five years in the wild and eight years in captivity.

They are incredible animals, and yes, I have lived in the west to witness them in the places they should be found. I applaud the course decision and hope that he can live his life out in as natural a surrounding as possible! I am sure that he will probably never find a compatible mate there, and if not there should not be any widespread damage to the landscape. Again, they are highly social, incredible animals!!!

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