PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) – The 30th annual FSU-PC Golf Invitational took place at Bay Point on Friday morning, but moving forward, the tournament will no longer be called that.
Instead, they are changing the name of it to honor the late FSU great, Bobby Bowden.
Bowden loved playing in the tournament and came to almost all of them to date.
“We always looked forward to getting away, getting over here, playing golf, I guess probably football was his main game, but golf was second, and a close second too,” former FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said.
Along with Andrews, former FSU football players came to play in the tournament like kickers Roberto and Ricky Aguayo, offensive lineman Jason Whitaker, tight end Tom Wheeler and defensive lineman Bill Rhodes.
All of them happy to see the tournament name changed in honor of Coach Bowden.
“Great coach, great guy one of the reasons I loved Florida State as a young child, eventually one of the reasons why I came here cause he built this program to where it was. This is just the best here. I told the guys this is my favorite tournament out of all the FSU tournaments I go to cause great people, great guys. We miss Bobby, but he’s here in spirit,” Roberto Aguayo said.
There was a few other celebrity golfers at the event, like baseball players Greg Jones and Don DeLoach and FSU softball volunteer coach Kayleigh Rafter.
“Not the prettiest day to have a tournament, with all the rain, the wind, the cool but Coach Bowden would be wrapped up and be out there playing for sure,” Andrews said.
The new tournament name will take effect in 2022.