Published on 7/6/2007
The Examiner
Yeas and Nays
Fore!
A handful of Washington VIPs got to tee it up with the pros on Independence Day for the AT&T National Pro-Am, which preceded the official tournament that begins today.
Mike Oxley, the former House Financial Services chairman and co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accounting bill, was one of the top golfers in Congress before he retired last fall (in 2005, Golf Digest estimated his handicap at 7.9). Now a lobbyist for Nasdaq, the Republican played with 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir.
The Institute for Education’s Kathy Kemper, who doubles as Washington’s tennis coach to the stars, got a chance to learn a thing or two about golf as she caddied for her investment-banker husband Jim Valentine in a foursome that included HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson and Bo Van Pelt, who has earned nearly $6 million on the PGA Tour in a 10-year pro career.
Stuart Long, president of host venue Congressional Country Club, played with Australian Adam Scott, who won Washington’s PGA event in 2004, when it was called the Booz Allen Classic and was played across the street at the much-maligned TPC at Avenel.
Despite the changes, Booz Allen Hamilton Chairman and CEO Ralph Schrader was still on hand to play Wednesday, as was tournament emcee Tom Dreesen.
Dreesen, a nightclub entertainer, opened for Frank Sinatra for more than a decade and has hosted the “Late Show” as a substitute for David Letterman.
