A number of pro anglers are competing this week in the Missouri Invitational Fish and Golf Championship.
Dion Hibdon will be joined by Elite Series anglers Casey Scanlon and Mike McClelland, FLW Tour pros Stacey King and James Watson along with former Elite Series angler Kevin Short and 2016 BFL All-American champion Jeremy Lawyer and others in an event that will combine a bass fishing tournament with an 18-hole scramble golf tournament at Old Kinderhook Golf Course and Resort.
The fishing portion of the event started today at Lake of the Ozarks with teams formed based on bidding that took place at the pre-tournament dinner Tuesday night. The entry fee for the event was $1,000. According to organizers, the field was full two weeks after registration opened.
On Thursday, the anglers and their amateur partner will join a local golf pro at Old Kinderhook for a unique tournament format that will credit each team with 2 pounds for an eagle, 1 pound for a birdie and a half-pound for par. The tournament concludes Friday with another full day at Lake of the Ozarks.
The team with the most cumulative pounds over the 3 days will win $15,000.
"We wanted to come up with something to showcase two of Lake of the Ozarks' major draws - fishing and golf," Bob Renken, the executive director of Old Kinderhook, told the Edwardsville (Mo.) Intelligencer. "This is the perfect way. Some of these fishermen get out and golf quite a bit, but others tried it for the first time last year. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun with it."