The Fire Pit w/ Matt Ginella: The Wishbone Brawl is Back, Bigger and Better Than Ever

In this year’s Wishbone Brawl at Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, Calif., women won’t just play with the men, they’ll play against them.

This Saturday, Nov. 11, at a 4,500-yard municipal golf course where the motto is “World Class for Working Class,” what has become one of the greatest events in golf will open the gates at 9:30 AM, there will be a range clinic at 11 AM and the tournament tips at Noon. Tickets are $50 for adults, kids are free and dogs are welcome. There will be food, drinks and parking is somewhat limited, so carpooling or Ubering is encouraged. All proceeds will benefit North County Junior Golf Association and Goat Hill Park’s Junior Caddie and Leadership Academy.

This year’s Brawl will consist of bona fide professionals and elite amateurs, they’ll dust off persimmon woods, pick up junior caddies, and they’ll play in front of roughly 1,000 adults, 300 kids and 100 dogs.

“It’s kind of a homemade backyard hang-out scene,” says John Ashworth, caretaker of Goat Hill Park. “Winning and losing doesn’t really matter, it’s just about having a blast, getting the whole community together and doing something special for the kids.”

It’s Xander Schauffele, who has seven PGA Tour wins, an Olympic Gold Medal and is currently No. 6 in the world, teaming up with Chris Riley, who won a PGA Tour event and partnered with Tiger Woods in the 2004 Ryder Cup. They’re playing against Geoff Ogilvy, who won the 2006 U.S. Open, and Colin Featherstone, a local and current Korn Ferry Tour player. And then there’s Jasmine and Janae Leovao, 19-year-old twins who grew up at Goat Hill Park and are now sophomores at Long Beach State where they recently helped the 49ers win back-to-back tournaments.

“I think the twins could win the whole damn thing,” says Peter Beames, who once played on the European Tour and has written books on golf instruction. “They’re that good and they’re not afraid.”

For a deeper dive on this year’s Wishbone Brawl, we’ve prepared a Fire Pit Podcast in which you’ll hear from Ashworth, Beames, Featherstone, the Leovao twins and more.

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