By Jason Shoot
The 10th annual Burrito Blast is slated for this weekend at Beaver Creek Golf Course, a tournament Beaver Creek clubhouse manager Shauna Albrecht considers "the biggest tournament we have all year."
The two-day event, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, raises funds for local youth golf and Havre High's golf program. But those two groups are hardly the only area beneficiaries who are rewarded by the tournament.
Havre Youth Hockey is charging $5 per ticket for a chance to win a 2001 Buick Regal with a hole-in-one on the 189-yard eighth hole.
The Havre Rotary Club is sponsoring the long-put competition, which will award $5,000 to the winner. The club is also charging $5 to enter that contest.
The Havre Wrestling Club is hosting the Mini Blast putting tournament at Pro Putt Mini Golf on Fifth Avenue in another fund-raising effort.
But the main focus of the tournament is to help local youth golfers compete in tournaments in Fort Benton, Shelby, Cut Bank, Conrad, Chinook and Havre.
"Some of the tournaments costs kids $15 to play in, plus lunch," tournament coordinator Dave Greenwood said. "We pay for that. We supply some balls and tees, and we supply 15 tournament plaques in each tournament."
While the tournament receives much of its money from entry fees from the 60-plus teams entered, auctions help the event secure more funding.
A Chinese auction will be held following a dinner after the first night. The auction consists of bidders holding up dollar bills while a clock ticks away. Runners race around snatching up the dollar bills until the clock runs out. The bidder whose dollar is last to be snared before the clock expires is the winner of whatever item was up for grabs.
Items available in the auction include a print signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers' Steel Curtain, a print signed by Nolan Ryan, a photo autographed by Ryan and a game ticket from the site of his sixth-ever no-hitter.
"The public can come as long as they bring some dollars," Greenwood said with a chuckle.
In addition to the Buick Regal available with a hole-in-one on No. 8, other prizes are available on the other par-3s around Beaver Creek.
An ace at the 162-yard fourth hole will earn the winner a four-day, three-night golf vacation at Palm Coast, Fla.
A hole-in-one at the 162-yard 13th hole will get a golfer a brand new Bettinardi BB-1 putter.
An ace at the 189-yard 17th hole will reward a participant with a vacation to the World Golf Village Renaissance Resort in St. Augustine, Fla.
"Dave usually tries to go out and get as many prizes as he can," Albrecht said. "He works year-round for that."
