The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour opened its 2008 membership drive at the Golfweek Golfest on January 12-13. Many players signed up during the event and the first event is already filling up. The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour will open its 2008 season on March 22 at Walkabout GC in Mims. 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 the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie in May. 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 $60,000 in prizes last year.". We are pleased to welcome Denny's restaurants as a new sponsor this year. They will sponsor a Super Skins Game on October 11. The event is limited to the players who qualify for the national and senior national finals. Based on a full field, each of the four skins games will have $1,000 pots. 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, also in Hilton Head. The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour is the first Florida affiliate of the Egolf Amateur Tour. There are local tours operating in seventeen states and over thirty-five cities. 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 $65 and include course costs, range balls, and prizes. Player cards for 2008 are $100. Online registration is available. 2007 saw the Edwin Watts Tour continue its reputation as central Florida’s "Tour of Choice." Thirty-eight players represented Orlando at the national finals in Hilton Head, SC. They were part of a 551-player field spread across the five beautiful courses at Palmetto Dunes Resort and Port Royal Plantation. Chad Frank (Sanford), after finishing second in 2006, captured the AGT national championship in 2007. In November seventeen senior players also traveled to Hilton Head to represent the tour in the senior national tournament played at the Port Royal Plantation courses. The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour won the senior team title and will have the Cup at every event in 2008. Dennis Brady of Melbourne and Len Benedetti of Indian Lake Estates won individual national titles in the Championship and C flights, respectively, to lead the way. The 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 5.0 index or better and another 1/3 are between 5.1 and 10.0." Players come from Tampa to Cocoa Beach and from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale to compete. The Edwin Watts Amateur Golf Tour remains the "tour of choice" for central Florida amateurs seeking tournament competition on a continuing basis. It is a terrific opportunity to meet golfers, make new friendships and take your game to a new level. Sign up today!