When attending a golf tournament, fans commonly see some of the best players in the world shoot incredible scores on tough courses. But rarely do the big-name tournaments provide anything other than a golf experience. Enter the Patriot All-America Invitational. The 54-hole amateur tournament offers attendees the chance to see top amateur players compete. Where […]
When attending a golf tournament, fans commonly see some of the best players in the world shoot incredible scores on tough courses. But rarely do the big-name tournaments provide anything other than a golf experience. Enter the Patriot All-America Invitational.
The 54-hole amateur tournament offers attendees the chance to see top amateur players compete. Where the event differs, however, is that it stands to honor fallen or injured service members and first responders for their “ultimate sacrifice” to the United States.
“It’s important for the families that we are representing them and that we are continuing to honor the people that did sacrifice their lives for us,” said Jason Mattie, co-chair of the Patriot All America Invitational.
“Every day we have people volunteering to put on a firefighter uniform, to put on a servicemember uniform, and they don’t know if they’re going to come home to their families.
“It takes a certain special individual to sign up for that, and because of that to have an event like this, that doesn’t forget how important that is to have people like that in our countries.”
Slated for Saturday, Dec. 28 through Dec. 31 at the Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, the Patriot All America has paid special attention to upgrading the hospitality experience for the fans.
Pulling ideas from the WM Phoenix Open, the event will offer high-quality amenities to provide more than just a golf watching event. There will be a stadium built on the 18th hole, VIP hospitality tents and a variety of vendors to make the family-friendly event as fun as possible. Also included will be golf simulators and picture booths.
To further elevate it, each servicemember or first responder — active or not — will be given a free VIP pass, which includes all food and drinks for the entirety of the event. There will also be a concert to kick the event off, where the tournament is hosting live music from country artists Aaron Nichols and Melissa Barrison.
“We’re really trying hard this year to offer a really good family experience, because this tournament every year is growing, but we just need to get people there one year, and they’ll come every year, because it is a hidden gem right in the middle of the West Valley that a lot of people don’t know about,” Mattie said. “But we’re trying really hard to make sure people get out there. People seemed to love the concert last year and I think it brought a lot of attention to our golf tournament, and hopefully we keep growing this thing every year.”
The tournament’s most important offering however is the recognition that they bring to servicemembers and first responders. Through a partnership with Folds of Honor — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers educational scholarships to the servicemember’s families — players in the tournament will bear the name of a fallen hero on their bags throughout the week. All of the players will sign the bags they played with, take them back to their respective colleges and auction them off, with all proceeds coming back to the Folds of Honor.
Mattie, a member of the West Valley Mavericks, said that this event has heard very positive and grateful feedback from the families that they represent through the tournament.
“For me, it’s a humbling experience,” he said. “It just fills your cup when you honestly see the faces of these widows and these parents that lost their child — to see them just light up with joy that you know that their daughter or son or husband and wife is not forgotten. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s very humbling.
“It’s a great honor to be able to be in charge and help run something like that and to be able to give something back to those families.”
With Mattie himself being a retired police officer, he said this event has a special place in his heart given his deeper understanding of the work that goes into protecting the country. For him, recognition of that fact is more important than seeing the next Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa or Brooks Koepka come through the West Valley.
“I just think that this is a good thing for the West Valley,” Mattie said. “I think it’s a good thing for college golf to for these kids to remember that there’s things that are bigger than themselves out there. There are people every day, their age, that are all across this world sacrificing themselves for something bigger and sacrificing their life for us so we can live the way we live every day here in America, and so they can play golf every weekend, and hopefully when they turn pro.”
