By By Michael Rodgers
In a few short months, Alabama will be home to &#8220the world's largest shotgun start golf tournament.”
The inaugural Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Nationwide Insurance Team Championship will take place Oct. 1 at all nine of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail sites across Alabama.
Over 1,000 players are expected to participate in the tournament.
In fact, when ESPN ranked the top 100 athletes of the last century, five of the top 15 are from Alabama - Jesse Owens, Hank Aaron, Joe Louis, Willie Mays and Carl Lewis.
Some of the proceeds will also go to the hall of fame's outreach program, which brings thousands of students from all over the state to visit on a free field trip.
Part of the tournament's appeal comes from the number of hall of fame inductees that will be present at the courses.
The co-chairmen of the tournament are Bart Starr and Pat Sullivan. Sullivan was a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Auburn and Starr became at legend at the University of Alabama and with the Green Bay Packers. Starr will be playing at Capital Hill in Prattville, and it is not known where Sullivan will be playing.
The format of the tournament will be a four-person, 18-hole scramble.
Players can also choose which course they want to play.
For example, players from Greenville are not required to play at Cambrian Ridge.
There are a number of ways to enter the tournament. Interested people can go online to www.ashof.org to register, or drop by a participating Nationwide Insurance Agency.
Registration forms can also be picked up at any Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail site. The number of teams per course will be limited to 25. The cost is $600 per team or $1,000 for a team and a hole sponsorship.