The inaugural Missouri Invitational Bass N Golf Championship at Old Kinderhook, presented by Bassing Bob, will take place Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 29-31, at Old Kinderhook Golf Resort near Camdenton. This unique pro-am tournament pairs amateur anglers with 20 of Missouri's best and most celebrated tournament fishermen to compete for a total guaranteed prize pot of $10,000.

 

 

This isn't your typical fishing tournament. There will be action-packed fishing and afternoon weigh-ins, but there's another catch: all teams will be paired with a PGA golf pro and play nine holes of golf on Old Kinderhook's Tom Wieskopf-designed gem of a course.

The event gets underway on Thursday, Oct. 29 with a cocktail reception and sit-down dinner with all the professionals and amateurs at The Ballroom at Old Kinderhook. The evening's festivities, including the reception and dinner, are open to the public at a cost of $40 per person. Following dinner, there will be live and silent auctions where the 20 participating amateur anglers can bid on their professional tournament partner for the weekend. The live auction will be for the top-four national fishing champions: Guido Hibdon, Dion Hibdon, Marcus Sykora and Brian Maloney. The silent auction will take place throughout the evening for the amateurs to bid on the remaining 16 professional anglers. 

The tournament officially kicks off at 7 a.m. on Friday morning when the anglers take off from Old Kinderhook's marina to search the waters for hungry bass. Fishing teams will return to Old Kinderhook for a drive-through fish weigh-in at 1 p.m. 

On Friday afternoon, fishing duos will be joined by their randomly placed PGA golf pro for a 3 p.m. shotgun start. The anglers-turned-golfers will then play nine challenging holes at Old Kinderhook, deemed the second best golf course in Missouri by readers of Golf Magazine. Later that evening at Old Kinderhook, beginning at 7 p.m., there will be cocktails, a buffet dinner and bonfire.

The last day of the tournament begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday as the bass boats take to the water for seven hours of fishing. The final weigh-in is at 2 p.m. with an awards ceremony to crown the champions at 3 p.m. After the awards ceremony, everyone, including the public, is invited to attend the season opening of Old Kinderhook's outdoor ice rink and Halloween Party.

 

The payout for the event will be determined by a cumulative points system based on the two-day total weight of fish caught and a sliding points scale for pars, birdies and eagles during the three-person golf scramble (a par is worth one point/pound, birdie is worth two points/pounds and an eagle is worth three points/pounds). The payout will include cash prizes for the top four teams with a guaranteed $5,000 going to the winning team. There also will be cash prizes for the biggest bass and "closest to the pin."

 

Champion Marcus Sykora poses for a photo with his two children, Mason and Madison, and his FLW All-American trophy. Marcus hopes to replicate his successes at the Missouri Invitational Bass N Golf Championship at Old Kinderhook, Oct. 29-31.

Sykora, who won the 2014 FLW All-American championship on Wilson Lake in Alabama, is proud to be involved with the tournament. "What a true honor it is to be able to plan and participate in such a cool event. This is an unbelievably stacked tournament and we'll all be excited to test our skills on Lake of the Ozarks, one of the best bass lakes in the nation." Being one of the top-four champions participating, Sykora is confident the fishing will not disappoint. "I know that no matter who I end up being paired with, we're going to have a great time and we'll look forward to some of the best fishing this lake has to offer.  It's one of my favorite times of year to fish."