Area Golf News

May 22, 2008, Myrtle Beach, S.C. – FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing director Kevin O’Brien received the “Key to the City” in a special ceremony held Wednesday, May 21 at the tournament’s closing picnic at Springmaid Resort. O’Brien was honored by City of Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea in a surprise presentation for bringing the world’s largest firefighter golf benefit to the Grand Strand area in 2002 and for his ongoing efforts to raise money for the families of fallen firefighters. Since the inaugural event of 2002, the FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing has raised more than $60,000 for the families of fallen firefighters.

 “They caught me totally by surprise,” said O’Brien. “The FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing is a labor of love for me. I just bring 700 of the best firefighters in the country to Myrtle Beach each year and hope that we touch a lot of people with the event. This is a great gesture and I love Myrtle Beach. We had more than 600 firefighters from 31 states and Canada here this week and hope that we can continue to grow the tournament in the coming years.”

O’Brien established the annual event as a thank you to the thousands of firefighters who rushed to New York City help the Ground Zero recovery efforts and to reunite the firefighters in the “Golf Capital of the World” each spring. The tournament is an offspring of O’Brien’s original event, the Alfred E. Ronaldson Spring Golf Classic, which was held from 1991 through 2000, and benefited the family of the former FDNY firefighter following his death.

“Awarding Kevin O’Brien the ‘Key to the City’ was a great way to show appreciation for everything he does throughout the year to make the FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing run so smoothly,” said Steve Mays, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday director of marketing. “It is an honor to be associated with O’Brien and the firefighters and host this great event annually in Myrtle Beach."

The 2008 FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing featured four days of activities for the firefighters and their families, starting on Sunday and Monday, May 18-19, as firefighters had the opportunity to hone their golf skills on Myrtle Beach area golf courses. On Tuesday, May 20, firefighters enjoyed a practice round before the four-person best ball FDNY 9-11 Tournament teed off Wednesday, May 21 with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start. The week-long event kept the firefighters busy after golf with the Monday night pairings party, Tuesday’s annual Jimmy Young Memorial belly flop contest and the FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing picnic after Wednesday’s tournament.