About the NAPGT
The North American Professional Golf Tour (NAPGT) is a New England based developmental tour. The NAPGT will coordinate 10 events throughout New England beginning June 2007 and running through September 2007. Each event will consist of 54-hole stroke play tournament. After 36 holes of play, the field will be cut to the low 40% and ties. The NAPGT’s mission is to provide the venues, competition and experience that will allow the players to develop and hone their skills to the point where they may attain the ultimate goal of making, competing and succeeding on the PGA tour.
Staff Biographies
Brian Hebb
Tour President
Hebb is the former owner and president of the New England Pro Golf Tour and Cleveland Golf Tour. Hebb has spent time over the past six years owning and organizing professional golf tours. Hebb brings a wealth of knowledge to the North American Pro Golf Tour. He founded the NEPGT in 2001 and grew the tour to 120 players with purses over $1.3 Million before his departure from NEPGT in 2006. Former NEPGT tour players with whom Hebb helped to develop include 2005 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Sean O’Hair, Champions Tour player Rick Karbowski and a host of other players now on the Nationwide Tour, Asian Tour and many other Tours. He and his wife, Marie, spend their summers in New England and their winters in Boynton Beach, Florida. Brian is currently the president of Hebb Builders Inc where he develops real estate on Cape Cod and he is also CEO of 360 Sports
Management Inc, a Sports management company. This is Brian’s third year playing as a professional. He aspires to someday play on the Champions Tour.
Pete Blaisdell
Rules Official
Pete is a lifelong resident of Keene, New Hampsire. He and his wife Carol have two children, Bob and Laura, and three grandchildren, Emma, Sadie and Mya. Pete has been involved with sports all his life having played baseball, football and basketball at both the high school and college level and also through the twenty-year managment of the family sporting goods business. Pete has been a tournament Rules Official for 26 years having worked 43 USGA Championships, 11 NCAA Championships and countless state and regional events. He is respected nationally for his knowledge of the rules of golf and for his expertise in course setup. Pete is proud to be a member of the NAPGT team.
Kyle Coburn
Director of Photography and Online Operations
Kyle is an award-winning sports photographer and recent graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism with a Bachelors of Photojournalism and a minor in business. Kyle previously served as a photographer for the University of Missouri Athletic Department, Missourian Newspaper, New England Pro Golf Tour, and has an extensive freelance career, including weddings, sports, and corporate work. In addition to photography Kyle has a strong background in information technology, journalism, and online development. You might have seen Kyle recently on the sidelines of the Cotton Bowl, Sun Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl, Dallas Cowboys game, and the 2007 Masters.
:: Contact Kyle :: ::PhotoBlog:: ::Website::
Joe Mariano aka ICEMAN
Operations Staff
Joseph Mariano of Palm Beach, Florida is proudly retired from General Motors. The “ICEMAN” is in charge of the distribution and cooling of water and energy beverages on the course during tournament play. The ICEMAN’s job difficulty varies widely with New England’s summer weather. Joseph also assists with setting up the course and general tournament operations. He takes his job very seriously and is always ready to hand you a cold bottled water when you need one most.
2007 NAPGT Interns:
Matt Byrne
PR/Journalism Intern
A caddy of six years, Matt began toting bags for Philadelphia’s elite duffers and hackers, hooking him on the game forever. When not counting yardage in the August heat, Matt wrote for his school and community newspaper, eventually taking time off after high school to pursue journalism. Landing in Wellington, New Zealand, Matt interned for a group of weekly newspapers owned by an Australian conglomerate. Now entering his second year at Emerson College as a print journalism major, Matt looks forward to immersing himself this summer once again in the world of golf, and learning from the staff and other interns on the tour.
Stacia Golem
PR/Journalism Intern
After attending the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, Stacia Golem graduated in June 2006 with a degree in magazine journalism, as well as a degree in psychology. For the past year she has had numerous freelance jobs including public relations work for Cleveland-area non-profit companies such as the American Red Cross and Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens.
Stacia had her professional introduction to the golf world by writing for Golf Event Magazine, a Cleveland-based business-to-business publication. She has consistently written for them over the past year.
Stacia, 23, was born and raised in Solon, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland. She is currently living in the Boston area.
Jennifer Lubrani
Operations Intern
Jennifer is originally from a small town in New Jersey and is now residing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island while attending Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Jennifer is a Sports/Entertainment and Event Management major concentrating in Sales, Meeting and Event Management and Beverage Management. In the previous year she interned at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club as the Event Intern and is excited to take the next step with The North American Pro Golf Tour. Jennifer is very excited to learn, work and have fun this summer with the NAPGT and fellow interns.
Robert Coen
Operations Intern
Bob is a student at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. where he is majoring in business management and minoring in marketing. Bob has previously served under Jim Sheerin, golf professional, at Abenaqui Country Club in Rye, NH. When he’s not working in or around the game of golf, Bob enjoys skiing throughout northern New Hampshire.