While he still has time to do something about it, Eric Knapp wants to thank the people who helped transform his golf course, Pheasant Ridge, into an 18-hole success. Simultaneously, he also wants to raise money those who have been helping him.

That's why Knapp, 47, has quickly arranged what he hopes will become an annual event -- the first Pheasant Ridge Benefit Tournament to be held June 14-15, a two-day customer-appreciation event benefiting the Hillman Cancer Center.

"It's a way of saying thank you to everybody while I'm able," said Knapp, who has throat cancer. "And we'll give all the money raised to the cancer center."

Customers can book tee times anytime over the two days and participate in a Callaway handicap tournament that will also include skill prizes.

There will also be several raffles, including 50-50, and complimentary food and beverages. Additional money will be raised with hole sponsorships.

Knapp was diagnosed with cancer several years ago and, despite surgery and aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments, the tumors keep recurring.

Despite his illness, he has rarely missed a day of work, mowing fairways and cutting greens on the course in Gibsonia he bought 10 years ago when it was a nine-hole layout known as Sandy Hill.

"The cancer has made me appreciate what we have been able to do here," Knapp said. "I've had to slow down a little, but it made me realize the importance of having a good staff."

To reserve a tee time or sponsor a hole, call 724-443-1908.

Trivia

Who was the last player to go through sectional qualifying and win the U.S. Open? Answer at end.

Hole in one

Some of Dr. Larry Wechsler's golfing buddies were just a little suspicious when he told them he had his first-ever hole-in-one while playing with his wife and son at Green Oaks Country Club in Verona.

So, just to prove he wasn't kidding, Wechsler aced the same hole with the same club 11 days later, this time while playing with one of his regular partners, Bob Bernstein.

"My real partners were skeptical," said Wechsler, the club president at Green Oaks. "They were like, you were playing with your family, that hardly counts."

Wechsler, a 10-handicap who has been playing golf for 15 years, had his first hole-in-one at the 199-yard 17th hole on April 20, using a 5-iron.

Then, on May 1, he aced the same hole again, again using a 5-iron.

"Fifteen years I never had one and I have two in 11 days," Wechsler said. "That's pretty amazing."

Zimmerman aims to return

Tired of working a desk job in his dad's paint business, Chip Zimmerman said he decided one day to pack the family and move to Atlanta to return to the business he loves -- golf.

A one-time mini-tour player who applied for and received his amateur reinstatement in 2003, Zimmerman left Fox Chapel two years ago to turn professional again, this time as an assistant at Cherokee Town & Country Club in Roswell, Ga.

His boss is Mark Mongell, who was an assistant at the Pittsburgh Field Club in the 1990s.

"I wasn't liking that deskjob thing," Zimmerman said. "I like being able to go outside and teach and stuff like that. So I just kind of disappeared."

He didn't stay hidden for too long.

Zimmerman's name reappeared this week when he competed in the 36-hole sectional qualifier in Dayton, Ohio, hoping to claim one of the five spots available into the U.S. Open.

He almost gained even more recognition, shooting 137 Monday and missing a playoff by one shot.

Zimmerman might have made it, too, if he didn't hit his tee shot out of bounds at the 12th hole during the morning round at Springfield Country Club.

When is 11 better than 1?

Mike Van Sickle, a Pine-Richland High School graduate who will be a senior at Marquette, is disappointed he didn't make it through the 36-hole sectional qualifier for the U.S. Open for the second year in a row.

But, after shooting 75-75--150 and missing the last of 23 qualifying spots by 11 shots in Columbus, Ohio, Van Sickle didn't think it was as agonizing as last year, when he missed getting into a playoff for the final spot by a stroke.

"It feels a lot better to miss it by 11 than to miss it by one," said Van Sickle, who won three collegiate events this season and was named to the PING All-Midwest Region team by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Dissa and data

• An 18-hole scramble tournament benefitting Morningside Youth Football will be held June 21 at Blackhawk GC, Beaver Falls. Entry is $75 and includes food, beverages, team prizes, and other giveaways. Call 814-609-6181.

• The American Junior Golf Association will hold its inaugural Junior All-Star event at Nemacolin June 30 to July 3 at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington. The event is one of nine in the AJGA's junior all-star series.

• One of the state qualifiers for the 40th annual Trusted Choice Big I Junior Classic is June 24 at Diamond Run GC. Entry is $50. Top finishers advance to the state tournament July 22 at Penn National GC in Fayetteville. To register, go to iabgroup.com or call 1-800-998-9644.

Trivia answer

Michael Campbell of New Zealand won the 2005 U.S. Open after advancing through a sectional qualifier.