The Memphis Golf Association City Am nearly died. Ben Fisher gave it life.
Cary Middlecoff puts his all into a shot from the 15th fairway during second round of Masters Golf Tournament April 8, 1955. The Memphis dentist shot a birdie 4 on the hole and finished the round with a sensational 65 including an eagle on 13. He’s among the past winners of the 100-plus-year-old Memphis Golf Association City Amateur, now known as the City Am. (Horace Cort/AP file)
The Memphis Golf Association City Amateur — City Am, as it’s known these days — was on life support a few years back.
Someone needed to save it, or the 100-plus-year-old local tournament whose list of past winners reads like a who’s who in Memphis-area golf — Dr. Cary Middlecoff chief among them — might forever be lost.
“There’s some pretty incredible names on it,” said Chase Harris, a former University of Memphis golfer who won the tournament in 2018 and is now head pro at Chickasaw Country Club.
A call for help from the MGA’s now-defunct board of directors went out. Longtime Memphian Ben Fisher, who won the tournament in 2017, answered.
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Tim Buckley
Tim is a veteran sportswriter who graduated from CBHS in Memphis and the University of Missouri. He previously covered LSU sports in Baton Rouge, and the University of Louisiana football and basketball for The Daily Advertiser/USA TODAY Network in Lafayette, the NBA’s Utah Jazz for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and West Texas State basketball for the Amarillo Globe News in Texas.
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