TRYING TO CHIP IN FOR GOOD CAUSE; SAWAYA DIRECTS SPECIAL OLYMPICS EVENT.Byline: Dave Shelburne Shelburne, town (1990 pop. 5,871) in Chittenden co., NW Vermont, 7 mi (11 km) S of Burlington on the banks of Lake Champlain. A popular resort, Shelburne is also a center for local lumber and dairy industries. Daily News Staff Writer Former Van Nuys Golf Course teaching pro Gregg Sawaya returns home for a special weekend Saturday to direct the two-day Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Special Olympics Special Olympics International sports program for people with intellectual disability. It provides year-round training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type summer and winter sports for participants. golf championship at the par-30 Van Nuys executive layout. Sawaya was instrumental in starting the golf portion of the annual Special Olympics three years ago, when the Van Nuys facility hosted that organization's inaugural golf championship. ``It was a smashing success,'' Sawaya said. ``Each year they've grown in number of participants (17 golfers have qualified to compete this weekend), and the best thing is we now have special athletes shooting under par.'' The Special Olympics format calls for each golfer to be accompanied by a coach, who will serve as a caddie, help with club selection and sometimes help line up shots. The players do all the swinging and putting. ``This is regular golf,'' Sawaya said. ``I've got athletes who shoot great scores, some who play better than the majority of the population.'' Sawaya has been a golf instructor since 1987, when he earned a degree in golf management from College of the Desert. He's worked at Van Nuys GC from 1995-97 and has long golf roots in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Sawaya played high school golf at Grant and grew up spending a lot of time at the Studio City par-3 course. There he met legendary long-hitter Mike Austin Michael Hoke Austin (February 17, 1910 - November 23, 2005) was a British-American golf professional and kinesiology expert, specializing in long drives. He is credited with hitting the longest drive in tournament play (471m/515 yards) in 1974 at Winterwood Golf Course in Las , who inspired Sawaya to try his hand at long-driving in recent years. Sawaya has turned that interest into another way of aiding the Special Olympics. Now a member of the Harrison Long Drive team (which represents Pacoima-based Harrison shafts), Sawaya has a long-drive best of 403 yards and will take part in a fund-raising fund-raising, large-scale soliciting of voluntary contributions, especially in the United States. Fund-raising is widely undertaken by charitable organizations, educational institutions, and political groups to acquire sufficient funds to support their activities. long-drive exhibition Aug. 8 at Vista Valencia. He is attempting to secure pledges from individuals or corporations, with all profits going to Special Olympics. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , Sawaya is focusing his efforts on this weekend's Special Olympics final, which includes a 9 a.m. Saturday round to determine brackets brackets: see punctuation. for Sunday's 8:30 a.m. championship round. ``This is a worthy cause,'' Sawaya said. ``I've been involved in a lot of things in golf, but this is something I put 200 percent of my effort into.'' For information on Special Olympics golf or Sawaya's fund-raising long-drive exhibition, call (818) 372-8893. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Gregg Sawaya was instrumental in starting the golf portion of the annual Special Olympics. He calls it a ``smashing success.'' Gus Ruelas/Daily News |
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