Nationwide tourney turns into one big, hairy deal

At this time next year, I expect to be wearing a different look. I may go with a bushy, obnoxious mustache, e.g. Gene Shalit. Or I might shoot for the Hulk Hogan look, with a menacing Fu Manchu drooping down my jowls.

Just call me Sundance.

Yes, facial hair is back. Not everywhere, but of all places, on the golf course. You can check it out this week at the Nationwide Tour's Utah Championship at Willow Creek Country Club. Around 75 professional golfers, caddies and operations staffers have joined in the spirit of "Mustache Week."

Put away your razors, people.

Things are getting hairy around here.

"I just try to grow it the quickest I can and get rid of it quick," said tour member Josh Broadaway of Dothan, Ala.

The facial-hair craze, which has become an annual event at Willow Creek, started two years ago. Three Nationwide players — Bob Burns, Chris Anderson and Chris Smith — decided they could lighten things up and break up the monotony of the tour if they had a mustache contest. They chose the Utah stop as the place for the competition to happen.

I know what you're thinking. There's nothing less exciting than watching facial hair grow. Still, for a sport in which the competitors and the courses are meticulously groomed, it's interesting to see people looking like the cast of "Lady and the Tramp" or stand-ins for "Geraldo."

The event grew from three golfers in 2007 to 35 or so last year. About twice that many are sporting facial hair this year. During the 2008 event, Utah Championship organizers purchased 2,500 fake mustaches, which were passed out to spectators. ESPN and the Golf Channel chipped in on coverage.

Now it has become one big, hairy deal.

This year's contest winner was Justin Hicks of West Palm Beach, Fla., who sported a broad, thick mustache for the competition. Earlier this year, he wore a soul patch and a handlebar with mutton-chop sideburns, too. But he trimmed it down to a solitary mustache for the competition.

"The more it progressed, the harder it was to look at myself in the mirror," he said. "It was like Halloween or something."

Awards were presented Tuesday at a poolside buffet. Hicks' prize: A $50 gift certificate to Bucca di Beppo.

Somewhere, Jim Croce is smiling.

Hicks said he was originally thinking of going for the Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) look. But that evolved into what he calls "the Mexican cowboy look," mimicking characters from the comedy "The Three Amigos."

"I'll be hanging out with El Guapo," he said.

Hicks added that growing and maintaining a mustache "is harder than it looks."