Putting contest at UC Amateur benefits Bobby Nichols Endowment

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Many of the golfers participating this weekend in the 21st annual Upper Cumberland Amateur Championship golf tournament at Ironwood Golf Course owe their start in the sport to former TTU golf coach Bobby Nichols.

So, it's fitting that half of the porceeds earned at a putting contest being held as part of the championship will go toward the Bobby Nichols Endowment, a fund set up to assist in Tennessee Tech's men's and women's golf programs.

The putting contest, sponsored by the Cookeville Herald-Citizen, was the brainchild of H-C publisher Mike DeLapp and managing editor Buddy Pearson. Golfers are invited to participate in the putting contest, with those who qualify on Saturday will meet in head-to-head competition Sunday at the conclusion of tourney play to determine the winner. Half of the proceeds will go directly to the Bobby Nichols Endowment.

It was Nichols who established the UC Amateur Championship in 1990, one of several tournaments that the former Tech player and coach had a hand in creating as he worked to increase awareness and participation in the sport that he loved. The Bobby Nichols Endowment was established in 2008 in memory of Nichols, a member of the TTU Sports and OVC Halls of Fame.

Photo: Nathan Mullinax lines up a putt Saturday while Herald-Citizen Mike DeLapp looks on.