Bush Institute Selects Warriors to Compete in Warrior Open

This year’s tournament will feature Pro-Am with PGA Tour professionals and celebrities.

The George W. Bush Institute today announced the roster for this year’s Warrior Open, a competitive 36-hole golf tournament that honors post-9/11 U.S. service members wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. The tournament, which takes place every fall at Las Colinas Country Club in the Dallas area, also highlights the important role families and caregivers play in the warrior’s rehabilitation and recovery and spotlights military service organizations that support service members and their families. This year’s two-day tournament will take place on September 27-28^th.

This year, the Warrior Open will also include an exciting additional day of play on Thursday, September 26^th, with the Bush Institute’s first Pro-Am, including PGA Tour pros, celebrities, the warriors and supporters of the Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative.

“By hosting the Warrior Open, the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative honors the service and sacrifice of not only these 24 warriors competing at Las Colinas, but all 3.5 million veterans and active service members and their families who have ensured the freedom of the United States and our allies since September 11, 2001,” said Colonel Miguel Howe (USA, Ret.), director of the Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative.

Warriors who applied and were selected for the 2013 Warrior Open include:

CPT Matthew Anderson, USA, Ret., from Colorado Springs, CO;
SSgt Andrew Bachelder, USMC Ret., from Weatherford, TX;
CPT James Barclay, USA, Ret., from Hampton Cove, AL;
MSG Sean Bennett, USA, Ret., from Anchorage, AK;
LTC Justin Constantine, USMC, from Arlington, VA;
SSG Benjamin Dellinger, USA, Ret., from Charlotte, NC;
SSG Robert Dove, USA, from Destin, FL;
MAJ Kenneth Dwyer, USA, from Spring Lake, NC;
SGT Timothy Gaestel, USA, from San Angelo, TX;
SGT Saul Martinez, USA, Ret., from Bozeman, MT;
SSG Andrew Montgomery, USA, Ret., from Myrtle Beach, SC;
SFC Randolph Nantz, USA, Ret., from Tampa, FL;
SSgt Jason Roberts, USMC, Ret., from Wilmington, NC;
TSgt David Romanowsky, USAF, Ret., from Colleyville, TX;
CPL Lee Sage, USA, Ret., from Duncanville, TX;
SSG Jason Searles, USA, from Fountain, CO;
1SG Jason Stamer, USA, from Watertown, NY; and
SSgt Johnnie Yellock, USAF, from San Antonio, TX.

These warriors will join the six best finishers from last year who received an automatic invite to compete in this year’s tournament, including:

Reigning two-time champion CPL Chad Pfeifer, USA, Ret.;
SGT Michael Stafford, USA, Ret.;
SGT Timothy Lang, USMC, Ret.;
SSgt Nick Bradley, USAF, Ret.;
MSgt Kenneth Gestring, USAF, Ret.; and
1LT Brian Donarski, USA, Ret.

This year’s Warrior Open will highlight several military support organizations, selected by the Warriors, who provide assistance to service personnel and their families during deployment and upon their return home: Salute Military Golf Association, The Yellow Ribbon Fund, Special Operation Warrior Foundation, Semper Fi Fund, Feherty's Troops First Foundation, Military Warrior Support Foundation and Fisher House and the Folds of Honor Foundation.

For more information on this year’s Warrior Open, to follow along during the tournament, or to learn more about the Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative, please visit: http://www.bushcenter.org/military-service-initiative/warrior-open.