NORTH PALM BEACH — A Christmas golf tradition in Palm Beach County was renewed Monday when the inaugural Parent-Child Tournament was held at North Palm Beach Country Club. The James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational – a new PGA Tour Champions event to be held in Boca Raton next spring – is the title sponsor reviving the once-popular event.
The Leon “Pop” Sikes Father-Son Tournament was held in the county for more than half a century. Sikes was a legendary Palm Beach County golfer who founded the event in 1954 at The Breakers.
Fittingly, Monday’s tournament Pro division was won by the father-son team of Lost Tree PGA head professional Brian Peaper and son Brant, who had won the Pop Sikes three times (2009, 2010, 2017). They combined to shoot 7-under 64 at North Palm, winning a match of card over past Pop Sikes champions Mike and Brad Gray.
“We always loved playing in this event,” said Brian Peaper. “I’m glad Ken (Kennerly) helped bring it back.”
Other winners were Kevin and Conor Richardson (64) in Open Gross and Richard Spangler and David Klein (56) in Open Net.
The Pop Sikes event was stopped in 2020 due to the pandemic and other concerns. It was played at the Breakers for six years, skipped a year, then restarted at Atlantis County Club, where it had been held for almost 60 years.
“We loved hosting it,” said Todd Leckrone, Atlantis’ PGA director of golf, “but we didn’t open our main food and beverage after the pandemic, so it was not possible to continue hosting it here. We never made much money off it, but we felt it was something good for the local golf community.”
Kennerly, the tournament executive director, and other James Hardie officials hope to restore the luster to the Parent-Child Tournament and have many of the county’s top PGA Tour golfers participate next year. The intention is to move the Parent-Child to other courses in Palm Beach County.
The tournament benefits First Tee – Florida Gold Coast, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth through character-building programs. First Tee is one of the three cornerstone charities for the James Hardie Invitational.
It probably didn’t help Monday’s field that the PNC Championship, where Charlie Woods electrified the crowd with a hole-in-one, ended Sunday near Orlando. Bernhard Langer, of Boca Raton, eagled the first playoff hole to enable him and son Jason to beat Tiger Woods and Charlie in a playoff. Other local golfers competing in the PNC were Justin Leonard, Matt Kuchar, Gary Player and Nick Price.
The James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational will be held March 31 to April 6 at the Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton. It features Pro Football Hall-of-Famers competing alongside PGA Tour Champions professionals during the first two rounds and the two pro-ams. Tickets and volunteer opportunities are available at www.JamesHardieInvitational.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lost Tree PGA head pro Brian Peaper, son Brant win Parent-Child golf
