Spindletop Int'l Golf Tournament celebrates 50th Anniversary in The Woodlands

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - While the Insperity Invitational golf tournament played through, another major golf tournament was in full swing just walking distance from the PGA Senior Tour event. The Spindletop International was celebrating its 50th Annual Oilmen’s Golf Tournament on the Oaks & Panther Trail Golf Club hosted by The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center May 1 and 2.

The Spindletop International has become the world's largest oilmen's charitable golf tournament with over 300 oil and gas executives coming together during the weekend preceding the annual Offshore Energy Conference in Houston, to raise significant funds for area youth charities. The tournament read like a Fortune 500 list with every major oil company and oil services company represented, which included all the major oil corporations: Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Noble Energy, Occidental Petroleum, and oil services companies: Baker Hughes, BP, Halliburton, Schlumberger, just to name a few of the forty-six Diamond sponsors. All for good reason...to benefit a myriad of children's charities.

In 1965, the founder, Loy Dean “Butch” Griffin, formed the tournament and raised $250 for a daycare in Conroe, Texas. Today the tournament contributes to 65 Houston area youth charities to fund programs such as child abuse prevention, pediatric medical research, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and rehabilitation, residential treatment centers, after-school programs, and scholarships. Over the past fifty years the event has contributed more than $18 million to these youth charities. In 2012, Butch Griffin passed away in 1984, but his legacy lives on. In 2014 the tournament raised $1.3 million. This year’s tournament is expected to top last year’s total.

The event started with a ‘Two-Man Shamble’ format on May 1, with over 300 golfers taking to the links. The tournament party followed, with the event carrying out the golden anniversary theme with centerpieces of vibrant yellow roses, almost golden. The evening consisted of dining, music, dancing, door prizes, and recognition presentations.

The second round ‘Two-Man Shamble’ on May 2, determined the tournament winners, with trophies awarded 1st Place Gross, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place Net teams in each flight, and the post-tournament luncheon, which also featured a silent auction.

Spindletop Charities, Inc., which includes the Spindletop International, is a 501(c)3 corporation founded in 1966, by Butch Griffin, to build an organization promoting goodwill and fellowship within the oil and gas industry while benefiting children ‘in need.’ 100% of donations made to Spindletop Charities, Inc. outside of the Spindletop hosted events, either through unsolicited individual donations, corporate giving, or employee match programs, are donated directly to the youth charities served.

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