Coleman looks to make changes to O-Tour

By Kenton Brooks

Bigger means better, or at least that’s what Keith Coleman hopes for as the Oklahoma Professional Golf Tour, or O-Tour, enters its third year this spring.

Perhaps better known as Muskogee High School’s softball coach, Coleman’s other passion is golf and he’s especially excited about the O-Tour and the changes he’s made for the new season begins in mid-March. He is the tour’s new executive director, having gone in with three others last week to purchase the organization.

Coleman along with Nick Saunders, Chris Harlin and Kyle Humphrey last week closed the deal to purchase the tour he’s played on the past couple seasons.

The O-Tour is based on the PGA Tour in which golfers play in a series of weekend tournaments for prize money and points with bigger events during the year and that will culminate a match play championship to end the season. Points will be awarded depending on the golfer’s finish in a tournament.

“It’s a soley individual golf tournament, you against the field,” Coleman said. “It’s the only individual golf tour in Oklahoma.”

Among the changes the group’s made in the short time in charge: decreasing the cost of entry fees and increasing the money paid out at the end of a tournament. The cost is now $125 for a one-day tournament, down from $149. For a two-day tournament, it now costs $269, a decrease from $349. Memberships now cost $100, down from $125.

But there’s a catch to making it all work.

“In order for this tour to be how we envision it, we need more entries and memberships,” Coleman said.

Coleman said the membership increased to 82 players last year from 39 in the first season. But he sees an opportunity for more in the third season.

“We expect to have over 100 members by March 12 and by the middle of the season, we hope to have 130-140 members,” he said.

Coleman said the amount of the payouts will increase an estimated 40-50 percent over last year.

“We fully expect winners to get between $800 and $1,000, That’s our goal,” he said. “Last year, they got $300 to $400. The more lucrative you make the payouts, the more people want to play in this and the more people play in a tournament, the more money people are going to win.”

Coleman said the payouts are likely to increase because he and the owners will take a much lesser share of the winnings, which is based on the number of entries, than the prevous owner.

The owner, he said, also had to pay fees for getting the tournament started.

“We don’t have those,” Coleman said, adding he and the owners will still pay the course fees.

The tournaments will also be played on some of the state’s better known courses, including Emerald Falls in Broken Arrow and Clary Fields in Sapulpa.

Each tournament will have two flights — championship and contender. Golfers in each flight will be determined by handicap.

Coleman is ready to get started.

“(The owners) are not looking at this as a business per se,” he said. “We’ve played on this tour and nobody’s going to quit their jobs to play or run this tour.”

The O-Tour is for those who play as a hobby and for other golfers who are looking to improve their skills to play at the next level, such as the Nationwide Tour.

The season opens on Saturday, March 13 with the BA Open at Battle Creek Golf Course in Broken Arrow and continues until Oct. 15-16.

For more information, go to the website, www.otourgolf.com or contact Coleman at 348-9904.

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