Leading The Players: Houston Bowles named 2023 chairman, Laura Renstrom added to leadership committee

Houston Bowles has done almost every possible volunteer job at The Players Championship in 23 years as a volunteer.

His 24th will be spent as the tournament chairman, overseeing more than 2,000 volunteers who help bring off the PGA Tour's marquee event.

Bowles, a federal account manager for North Florida at Florida Blue and an Atlantic Beach resident, has lived on the First Coast since 1998 and began volunteering at The Players almost immediately. He has served on the committees for the Benefactor Tent, commissary, corporate hospitality, ecology, general parking, off-site parking, volunteer parking, VIP parking and walking scorers.

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He replaces Matt Welch, who now becomes part of the Honourable Company of Past Chairmen. Players chairs serve one-year terms after six years on the volunteer leadership committee.

“I am so honored to work alongside the amazing volunteer team at The Players,” said Bowles in a statement. “The Players volunteers have become my extended family over the last 20-plus years, and their passion and dedication continually motivate me to always do my best.  I hope to live up to the high standards set by Matt Welch and all past chairpersons and am looking forward to a 2023 championship that is successful on the course and throughout the greater Northeast Florida community.”

Bowles is a native of Maryland and graduated from Lynchburg University, where he played lacrosse.

He also has been a volunteer with the American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, Seaside Community Charter School, Cathedral Arts Project, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. He and his wife Trisha have two daughters, Ellie and Kadie.

The Players also has added Laura Renstrom to the leadership committee. A native of the First Coast and a Nease graduate, she has been a Players volunteer since she was a child, serving as a runner on the practice grounds and a standard-bearer.

She has worked on the apparel, benefactor, standard-bearers, tournament support and volunteer off-site shuttle committees. As the newest vice-chair, she will oversee the Volunteer Services division, which supervises apparel, credentials, concessions, office and volunteer personnel, photography, recognition, supplies, volunteer information, offsite shuttle and volunteer transportation.

The 2023 Players will be her 15th as a volunteer.

Renstrom is a lawyer with Holland and Knight and recently was recognized as a Woman of Influence and 40 Under 40 by the Jacksonville Business Journal. She has a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Florida, a master of science in business management and graduated from the Levin College of Law.

Renstrom and her husband Nathan have two children, Parker and Caroline.

The 2023 Players will be March 7-12, 2023. Volunteer registration will open in the fall. Please visit THEPLAYERS.com/volunteer for more information. 

Beating the guys

LIV Golf has boasted about its “alternative format,” which includes 54 holes and shotgun starts, as a needed change to what it considers the staid way of deciding golf tournaments over 72 holes.

But the Swedish Golf Tour may have shown the future of golf in an even more refreshing way last week — something LIV Golf, which is bankrolled by the Saudi Public Investment Fund — is not likely to duplicate.

A female player has won a professional event for the first time on a national tour while playing in the same field with men.

Linn Grant, a 22-year-old native of Sweden and member of the Ladies European Tour, won the Scandinavian Mixed on Sunday by nine shots over the next nearest male competitor and by 14 over the next woman, Gabriella Cowley, who tied for 15th at the Halmstad Golf Club.

Grant shot 64 in the final round, with birdies on five of six holes during one stretch. She was bogey-free on the weekend.

The field of 78 men and 78 women played the same course, with the women playing shorter tees.

Grant has deep golf roots. Her grandfather James was a Scottish golf professional who emigrated from Inverness in northern Scotland to Helsingborg in Sweden. Her father, John, played on the Swedish Golf Tour, too, and has seven wins on the Swedish Senior Tour.

Grant has won twice on the LET.

The tournament was co-hosted by Swedish legends Henrik Stenson and Annika Sorenstam — who was there at the end to embrace Grant.

The PGA Tour and the LPGA had a mixed team event in Tampa from 1960-1999. The last winners were John Daly and Laura Davies.

Following Dad's footsteps

Two years ago Sean Jacklin was spending his summer chasing modest purses on a mini-tour quickly formed by the PGA Tour to give players idled by the suspension of the Canadian and Latin American tours due to the pandemic a place to play.

Jacklin, 30 and the son of World Golf Hall of Famer Tony Jacklin, is now playing in the U.S. Open this week at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Jacklin was the co-medalist last week in a U.S. Open sectional at Admiral's Cove in Jupiter (shooting 66-71--137), gaining a spot after being the first alternate from a local qualifier in Sarasota, near his father's home in Bradenton.

Sean Jacklin will be making his first major championship start and only second on the PGA Tour, 52 years after his father won the U.S. Open at Hazeltine.

He's still slugging it out in mini-tours, mostly in West Florida and the Orlando area.

"He’s not a kid anymore," Tony Jacklin told golfweek.com. He’s been trying to Monday [qualify] He’s got the game. It’s as much luck as anything. There are so many good players.”

Golfweek.com contributed to this report.

Country Club veterans

Only three players in the field for this week’s U.S. Open have played in competition at The Country Club.

Jim Furyk of Jacksonville, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia played in the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club, won 14.5-13.5 by the U.S. in their historical rally from a 10-6 deficit after doubles.

Furyk went 1-2-1 but his only victory was huge: a 4 and 3 dismantling of Garcia in singles, which gave the U.S. 14 points and set the stage for Justin Leonard to make his 45-foot putt at the 17th green against Jose Maria Olazabal. After Olazabal missed a 20-footer, the U.S. had the match clinched.

Garcia had not lost before that, going 3-0-1 in doubles with Jesper Parnevik as his partner in each match. Mickelson was 2-2 and beat Jarmo Sandelin 5 and 3 in singles.

PGA TOUR

Event: U.S. Open, Thursday-Sunday, The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.

At stake: $12.5 million purse ($2.25 million and 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner).

Defending champion: Jon Rahm.

TV: USA (Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; 5-7 p.m.; Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.); NBC (Thursday, 2-5 p.m.; Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday, 12-8 p.m.; Sunday, 12-7 p.m.).

Area players entered: Jonas Blixt, Harris English, Jim Furyk, Lanto Griffin, Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, David Lingmerth, Andrew Novak, Cameron Smith.

Notable: Rahm won his first major championship at Torrey Pines when he fired a 67 in the final round to rally past Louis Oosthuizen by one shot. He became the first player to birdie the last two holes to win the Open since Tom Watson in 1982 at Pebble Beach. … The Open returns to The Country Club for the first time since Curtis Strange beat Nick Faldo in an 18-hole playoff in 1988. … Tiger Woods opted out and will next play in the British Open next month at St. Andrews. … Phil Mickelson is playing in the U.S. for the first time since January. He appeared in the first LIV Golf Series event in London last week.

LPGA TOUR

Event: Meijer LPGA Classic, Thursday-Sunday, Blythefield Country Club, Belmont, Mich.

At stake: $2.5 million purse ($375,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Nelly Korda.

TV:  Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).

Area players entered: Chella Choi, Mel Reid.

Notable: Korda took command with a 62 in the third round and beat Leona Maguire by two shots.

KORN FERRY TOUR

Event: Wichita Open, Thursday-Sunday, Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kan.

At stake: $750,000 ($135,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Harry Hall.

TV: None.

Area players entered: Chris Baker, Blayne Barber, Chandler Blanchet, A.J. Crouch, Philip Knowles, Carl Yuan.

Notable: Hall shot 64-63 in the first two rounds and went on to beat Curtis Thompson by one shot.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship elevates Houston Bowles to chairman of 2023 tournament