Quail Hollow Championship - Sean O'Hair held off Bubba Watson, Lucas Glover, Tiger Woods and others to capture the 2009 Quail Hollow Championship, one of the PGA's top tour stops held at The Quail Hollow Club in Southeast Charlotte from April 27th-May 3rd. His -11 score was 1 shot better than of the star-studded field, and he joined such notable players as Woods, David Toms, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh as champions of this great event. Congratulations go out to CRSC Board Member Kym Hougham and to Past Board Chairmen Johnny Harris and Mac Everett for another fantastic edition of the PGA Tour's best "non- major".

 

Spring Racin' in the Queen City
As May rolls into Charlotte, so does NASCAR and all of the festivities that come along with them. This year the All-Star Weekend in Charlotte kicked off by the Rev'd Up Concert uptown featuring: O.A.R. This lead into the Pit Crew Challenge, which was an action packed night that came down to just tenths of a second separating the winner and $70,000. The No.31 Caterpillar Chevrolet delivered an incredible performance which found its way straight to the record books.  As usual the All-Star race was no easy contest, with Tony Stewart pulling out the  All-Star victory.
 
Round 2 in the Queen City saw thousands flock to Lowes' Motor Speedway not once, but twice to witness the second shortest race in the 50 year history of the Coca-Cola 600 lasting just 227 laps of 400. The rains came Sunday and ensured the race would have to be continued on Monday. However, when the race was finally called, there was a winner. David Reutimann in the #00 car drove out the victory in the rain and became the 50th winner of the May spectacle.

 

USA Swimming Grand Prix Charlotte Ultra Swim - This event was truly an exciting addition to the Charlotte Region. Hosted by the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, over 500 swimmers competed including Olympians Michael Phelps, Ricky Berens, Mark Gangloff, and Thiago Pereira of Brazil. In fact, this was Michael Phelps first meet after the Beijing Olympics where he won eight gold medals. Most spectators in Charlotte expected to see him win it all, however the field was wide and he gave up the gold to a couple races as he practiced new freestyle strokes.

Charlotte Ultra Swim celebrated 25 years of hosting the event and hope to see everyone again May 13-16th 2010! www.charlotteultraswim.com

As the rains departed, Friday June 5th, the fun and excitement began. This year's River Roar was a great success with 25 rafts competing for the championship paddle, including seven new corporations that joined in on the fun. Smiles were displayed by all as the day progressed, especially with the all new "All Sports Pass" that participants had this year. Everyone was able to fly down the all new Mega-Zip line as many times as they could as well as tame the rock climbing wall! Every team tried their hardest and gave it their all for the fastest time down the channel, but only one team can win. This year's champions are the Visit Charlotte-B! Congratulations to the champions and we look forward to an even more fierce competition next year!

State Games of North Carolina -This year's State Games started with an entertaining Opening Ceremony at the US National Whitewater Center on Friday, June 19.  Over 1000 athletes, parents and coaches turned out to kick off the Games highlighted by a torch run that showcased all of the elements at the USNWC.  Competitions were held in 22 sports spread out over 25 venues throughout the region.  A special thanks to our members, Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation, UNC Charlotte, the US National Whitewater Center and Visit Charlotte, for their tremendous support in making the 2009 State Games a success. 
 
The Palisades Collegiate Golf Classic - Virginia Commonwealth University led the field of 15 teams from start to finish and snatched the Classic trophy from the Charlotte 49ers in the 2009 edition of The Palisades Collegiate Golf Classic.  VCU won the title with a record shattering 836 (-28), followed by Louisville, who also bested the previous tournament record with an 843 (-21).  Actually, there were a number of record breaking performances at the Classic including medalist Mike Van Sickle's (Marquette) 3-round score of 200 (-16) and Louisville freshman Riley Wheeldon's single round of 61 (-11)-also a new Palisades Country Club course record.
 
Four-time defending champion (and co-host) Charlotte 49ers finished tied for 8th place in this year's Classic, while other co-hosts Belmont Abbey and Davidson finished 5th and 12th, respectively.  Thanks to all our sponsors who made this year's Classic a huge success:  The Palisades Country Club, Hood Hargett, Keith Corporation, R.T. Dooley, Harris Teeter, PromoThreads, Jim 'n Nicks BBQ, Bojangles, Pepsi, eGolf, Lance and Sabona.
 
Walmart FLW Tour National Guard Open - 21-year-old Stetson Blaylock of Benton, AK, caught a final-round/2-day total of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 15 ounces to win $200,000 in the $1.1 million Walmart FLW Tour National Guard Open on Lake Norman, April 23-26.  In addition to the cash, Blaylock also earned 200 valuable angler points toward qualifying for the Forrest L. Wood Cup, held in Pittsburgh July 30-August 2, where the top angler could walk away with as much as $1 million!
 
Jason Ober of Johnstown, PA, won the Co-angler Division and $40,000 with a 5-bass limit weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces.  Charlottean Shane Lehew finished 6th in this division with 3 bass tipping the scales at 4 pounds, 6 ounces.
 
This professional bass fishing tournament, which produced an estimated $1.5 million in economic impact as well as national TV coverage on the Emmy-nominated "FLW Outdoors," was hosted locally by the Visit Lake Norman, Visit Charlotte, the Charlotte Sports Commission, Cabarrus County CVB, and Mecklenburg County Park and Rec.

 

 YSPN Charlotte has a vision to give young sports professionals ages 21-39 networking opportunities in the Charlotte area. This is accomplished through small networking events as well as the annual speaker series.  The 2nd annual YSPN Speaker Series event was held at Mahlon Adams Pavilion at Freedom Park on Tuesday, June 30th with over 50 people in attendance. This program is created to give young professionals a place to connect with others in their industry while learning and gaining insight from Charlotte's sports industry leaders: Tera Black, COO Charlotte Checkers; Kathleen Hessert, President of Sports Media Challenge; Dan Rajkowski, VP & GM of the Charlotte Knights; and Carl Scheer as moderator.

Other YSPN events this quarter have included networking at BlackFinn, Speed Center during race week and entertainment at Piedmont Town Center After Five.  These events have been successful but are always looking to expand to greater heights. To join the mailing list, email csmith@charlottesports.org.