Buick Championship - Festivities Get Started - Tuesday, June 27, 2006

CROMWELL, Conn. - Notah Begay III, 2000 Greater Hartford Open winner, and Sadie Martinez, 11, of Hartford hit the ceremonial first balls at the opening ceremonies, which included Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Martinez represented The First Tee of Connecticut, one of the charities that benefit from the tournament. "I was nervous, but it was fun," said Martinez, who has been in First Tee for six years.

Begay lauded the community and the Greater Hartford Jaycees, whose major fundraiser returned to the main segment of the PGA Tour when St. Paul Travelers agreed in April to replace Buick as title sponsor for four years with an option for two more.

"I know sponsorship has changed a lot the last few years," Begay said. "But I would hate to see this event off the schedule because it's a genuine community event. We need to have a lot of those on tour."

The Jaycees presented scholarships to Kelly Phouyaphone of New Britain ($25,000), who will attend Carnegie Mellon; Paul Bedard of Glastonbury ($10,000), New York University Tisch School of Arts; Linda Bujari of Rocky Hill ($10,000), Manhattan College; and Melanie Lastrina of Portland and Mercy-Middletown ($10,000), Elon University.