Keesler golfer selected to compete in Air Force Golf Championship

Published Sept. 8, 2011
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A Keesler golfer is among 30 Air Force members selected to compete in the 2011 All-Air Force Golf Championship hosted by Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., Sept. 18-25.

Brian Mace, a biomedical equipment technician with the 81st Medical Support Squadron, learned Aug. 12 that he was chosen to compete. The top six men and top three women in this matchup represent the Air Force at the 2011 Armed Forces Golf championship hosted at Fort Jackson, S.C., Sept. 26 to Oct. 2.

Mace mentioned that while he doesn't have an official handicap, he "claims to be around a 4."

Mace, who arrived at Keesler in July from a three-year assignment at Andrews AFB, Md., said he's been playing golf "off and on since I was 5. I played in middle school and high school tournaments, but this is my first big tournament."

He admitted he's very excited and a bit nervous to be involved in the competition. In fact, he said it actually came about a bit randomly.

"I had just arrived and was playing in my first intramural match with Ken Gestring (81st Surgical Operations Squadron). He suggested I enter the tournament and helped me complete the application. In all honesty, I had never heard of it before. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have been chosen; he was the first person I told when I learned I had been selected."

He said the Luke tournament involves singles play, but once the top six men and three women are named to the Air Force group, they'll play as a team in the armed forces match.

Mace, a member of the Air Force since November 2007, hails from Pensacola, Fla.