Now in its 44th season,

the Schenkel Invitational is one of the most prestigious tournaments in collegiate golf. Though the official tournament began in 1971, the story begins much earlier than that.

During World War II, the U.S. Army sent a young Chris Schenkel to a language institute at then called Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro, Georgia. Schenkel lived in Sanford Hall overlooking Sweetheart Circle during his nine-month stay, and the Indiana native built a bond with Statesboro that would last a lifetime and serve as the beginning of what would become an annual event in the town.

After the war, Schenkel embarked on a Hall of Fame broadcasting career, one of the most distinguished in the history of the industry. He was the first to cover The Masters on television, the first to anchor a live telecast of the Olympics and the first to call a nationally broadcast college football game. He was inducted into 16 halls of fame and received an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.

“…he surprised them with his knowledge of the city as ‘the home of Georgia Teacher’s College and Sweetheart Circle.”

Robbins then teamed with Georgia Southern president John O. Eidson, Athletics Director J.I. Clements and many community leaders to develop the Chris Schenkel Intercollegiate Golf Tournament. In addition to naming the tournament after a sports celebrity, the way the community embraced the tournament and put the town’s southern hospitality on display fostered its popularity, and it continues to this day.

Local families host each team, and there is a barbeque for patrons and coaches on Thursday night following the practice round and a banquet on Friday night that every team attends. The Phi Mu sisters have helped host the event since the beginning with the sorority assigning hostesses to each team and cheering them on during play.

The name, the community and the golf course helped draw the best teams in college golf to the event, which also continues to this day. Schenkel personally delivered commitments from Florida and Wake Forest to the inaugural event, the latter by listing the aid of Wake alum Arnold Palmer. The Gators and Demon Deacons join Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma State, Texas and Southern Cal as just a handful of schools that have brought national-championship caliber teams and players to the event over the years.

The Schenkel has been a proving ground for some of the game’s best players with names like Jay Haas, Andy Bean, Jerry Pate, Andy North, Bob Tway, Scott Verplank, Curtis Strange, Mark Calcavecchia, Bill Haas, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson and Justin Thomas along with Georgia Southern greats Jody Mudd, Gene Sauers, Mike Donald and Buddy Alexander going on to star on the PGA tour.

Schenkel last traveled to Statesboro in 1999 when E-Z-GO committed to sponsor the Invitational. The broadcasting legend passed at the age of 82 on Sept. 11, 2005. Unable to travel in the years after his 1999 appearance, Murphey wrote, “he always kept in touch with his Statesboro friends and, of course, eagerly awaited the results of the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational each March.”