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LANETT — The 39th annual Walt Meadors Invitational Golf Tournament will be taking place Saturday, Aug. 22 at the Point University Golf Club. The tournament benefits Valley Haven School and is organized each year by the West Point Rotary Club. 

It’s a four golfer scramble with prizes being awarded to the winning team. J. Smith Lanier & Company will be sponsoring a $10,000 hole-in-one contest. There will also be $50 closest-to-the-pin awards on all par-3 holes and $100 longest drive award on two par-5 holes.

There will be some rules in place as precautions against the possible spread of COVID-19. Except for families, there will be a limit of one-person per golf cart. (Members of the same family may ride in one cart.)

Half of the teams will play in the morning, while the other half will play in the afternoon. There will be an 8:30 a.m. EDT tee time for the first group and a 1 p.m. tee time for the second group. The winning teams and individuals will be announced at the end of the tournament around 6 p.m.

“This has been a difficult year for us at Valley Haven, and I’m sure it has been hard all around with the coronavirus,” said Craig Brown, Valley Haven’s executive director. “We canceled the Hike/Bike/Run, our major fundraiser for the year. In spite of that, we’ve still been able to have over $28,000 in fundraising. Given what we’ve been up against, that’s not bad.”

Brown credits avid runner Roger Keel for coming up with a substitute for the annual 5k and 10 1/2k races.

“We had virtual races,” he said. “Each runner ran one, or both, races on their own and recorded their times. They turned that in, and we ranked them according to how fast they raced each course.”

People can still help by purchasing the 2020 Hike/Bike/Run t-shirt. They are available in all sizes, and a $20 donation will help the school.

Registration for the Walt Meadors Invitational ends on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

“Things always pick up the last few days,” Brown said. “We are hoping to have a good turnout for the tournament. As always, we think it will be a lot of fun.”

The registration and sign-up forms are available in the pro shop at the Point University Golf Course.