{"id":1719,"date":"2015-10-16T10:18:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T17:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2015-10-16T10:21:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T17:21:04","slug":"chicago-trio-aims-for-world-long-drive-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/golf\/personalities\/1719\/chicago-trio-aims-for-world-long-drive-success","title":{"rendered":"Chicago trio aims for World Long Drive success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Connor<\/a>

Connor Powers, Jeff Flagg and Eddie Fernandes are aiming for Long Drive glory.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Cubs aren\u2019t the only team in Chicago that can play long ball.<\/p>\n

When this year\u2019s World Long Drive championship<\/a> airs on the Golf Channel on Oct. 20 and 21 (8 p.m. CT Tuesday and Wednesday), three power hitters from City of Broad Shoulders expect to be on the tee.<\/p>\n

Two already hold slots in the 64-man field: defending champion Jeff Flagg, a Chicago-area personal trainer, and 2014 quarter-finalist Connor Powers, who operates a website (deadredhitting.com<\/a>) that helps young baseball hitters improve.<\/p>\n

The third contender is Eddie Fernandes, who already has won this year\u2019s Senior Long Drive championship. Fernandes hopes to join them by advancing through preliminary rounds leading up to the finals.<\/p>\n

The connections between this trio are many-layered. Powers, who played at Benet Academy and is from Naperville, and Flagg, who grew up in Florida, were baseball teammates and friends at Mississippi State. They remained close during their minor-league careers. Powers was in the Padres\u2019 system, Flagg was with the Mets\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n

Flagg conducts his training business with Smart Golf & Fitness,<\/a> which has locations in Lincoln Park on Chicago’s North Side, and in west suburban Oak Brook Terrace and Oak Brook. Fernandes is a teaching pro at Smart Golf\u2019s brand-new Oak Brook facility, at the Willow Crest Golf Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/a>

Eddie Fernandes swings; Connor Powers, Jeff Flagg and Golf Channel camera watch.<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition, Powers and Fernandes are in their second year of working out together with the Smart Golf staff, which includes teaching pro Joe Sheren and trainer Tommy Asuma.<\/p>\n

“It’s a lot of fun having these guys around and training with them,” Powers said. “We all help each other out. It’s\u00a0a really good situation to be in.”<\/p>\n

Flagg, 29, who won the world Long Drive Championship in Nevada last year, has hit a golfball 463 yards in competition. Even though he\u2019s almost 45, Fernandes has gone 436 yards. And Powers, 27, who has attained a Long-Drive-Championship record 156 mph clubhead speed, has hit a ball 402 yards in competition, but hits much longer when he keeps his shots on the grid.<\/p>\n

“When we go play together, we\u2019re the longest foursome around,\u2019\u2019 Flagg said.<\/p>\n

If not for Powers, Flagg would have missed out on success in last year\u2019s event. After failing to qualify when he hit all six of his attempts out of bounds in Alabama, he had not planned on trying again.<\/p>\n

When Flagg came up to Chicago to visit his girlfriend, however, Powers, who was going to a qualifier in Decatur,\u00a0Ill.,\u00a0insisted that Flagg bring along his clubs. Both wound up earning berths in the international championship in Nevada, and then played their way in the Las Vegas Eight, where Flagg picked up the $250,000 winner-take-all check.<\/p>\n

“I made sure he got down to Decatur,\u2019\u2019 Powers said. “I was like, `You absolutely have to go do that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was Flagg who suggested long-drive competition to Powers when Powers was looking for another challenge after his minor-league baseball career ended.<\/p>\n

“I was almost over it,\u2019\u2019 Flagg said. “I was like, `I don\u2019t know.\u2019 He talked me into it. It\u2019s crazy. That\u2019s life-changing money. I talk to Connor a lot about this. When you go through what we did, minor-league baseball–the most I ever made in minor league baseball was $1,500 a month for five or six months, and then you have to figure something else out. And that\u2019s playing a professional sport. I kind of joke about it. You play baseball for 20-some years. It\u2019s your life: blood, sweat and tears.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re pretty unfulfilled when you\u2019re done. And then I hit a few golf balls and get a nice check,\u2019\u2019 Flagg said. “I joke with my dad, I\u2019ve been playing the wrong sport the whole time.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

RE\/MAX no longer sponsors the Long Drive Championship, which will conclude on Oct. 20 and 21 at the Winstar World Casino and Resort, about 90 minutes north of Dallas on the Oklahoma border. The purse remains $250,000, but the winner will receive $150,000 this year, with the remainder divided among the runners-up.<\/p>\n

The 6-6, 230-pound Flagg, the 6-4, 205-pound Fernandes and the 6-2, 245-pound Powers draw on different attributes to launch their imposing golf shots.<\/p>\n