The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour will open its 2010 season on March 20 at Black Bear GC in Eustis. Black Bear returns to the schedule after a three-year absence. The tour opened the season at Black Bear from 1997 to 2006. Fifteen tournaments are scheduled on some of the finest courses in central Florida. “Last year we played a terrific schedule; this year our lineup is every bit as good” said Tom Mirus, Tour director. “We will be taking the tour to some new courses this year. We are returning to Grand Cypress, Grande Pines and Mission Inn Resort after several years of visiting other courses. We are excited about the coming season. We will again qualify fifty players (10 from each of the five flights) for the national tournament in October. The national finals are being held in Hilton Head, SC now and the players that made the trip last year loved it. I am sure competition for the invitations will be strong again this year. Plus, our players competed for over $50,000 in prizes last year.” The Edwin Watts Golf Amateur Tour is the first Florida affiliate of the egolf Amateur Tour. There are local tours operating in over thirty-five cities with nationwide membership of 3000. The Senior (50 & up) flights will continue play on Saturdays with the regular flights. Senior players may choose to compete simultaneously in Regular flights for an additional surcharge. Senior players will qualify for the senior national tournament in November, in Pinehurst. Players are put in flights by handicap/handicap-index. Players without indexes may submit recent scorecards to be assigned to a flight, subject to change based on tournament performance. All prizes in all flights are based on gross scores. Entry fees start as low as $60 and include course costs, range balls, and prizes. Player cards for 2010 are $100. Online registration is available. Membership continues to grow and tournaments averaged near 100 players in 2009. The Order of Merit points list determines the invitations to the national tournament as well as Player of the Year in each flight. In 2009, Chad Frank (Sanford), Matt Tickle (Apopka), and Steve Cleary (Orlando) earned Player of the Year in the Championship, A, and B flights respectively. Dan Seidenfaden (Altamonte Springs) took the C flight and Wayne Weaver (Apopka) took the D flight. Dan Gladman (Sanford) and Robbie Robinson (Kissimmee) captured the Senior Championship & Senior A flight awards, respectively. Tim Sobitz (Oviedo) took the Senior B title. The Orlando tour was founded in 1997. Every year the fields get stronger and the quality of play increases. The best players are playing this tour. Director Tom Mirus points out that "over 1/3 of our membership play with a 4.0 index or better and another 1/3 are between 4.1 and 9.0." Players come from Tampa to Cocoa Beach and from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale to compete. Take your game to a new level!