ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608050055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CENTREVILLE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPLESS FEMALE caddies weren't what this charity had in mind for a golf tournament.
A charity golf outing for the American Heart Association featured birdies, bogeys and topless caddies.
Officials at the Ridgeview Country Club in Centreville said Thursday they didn't know beforehand there would be topless women at the tournament.
A heart association spokesman said the group also didn't know and that it would return a $975 donation from tournament organizers.
``Obviously, the event is not credible in terms of the image we want to be associated with,'' said Richard Summers, executive vice president of the association's Northern Virginia chapter. ``We do walking events. We do running events, health-related activities. The last thing I would want is for people to think [a golf tournament with topless women] is something we do.''
Tournament organizer Bill Bayne, who owns a topless club in Arlington, said young women in shorts and T-shirts were ``auctioned'' off to accompany some players in their golf carts.
Bayne said two women were topless but were not among the women officially involved in the event and were brought there by golfers who had hired them from a ``strip-o-gram'' agency. No one complained at the time, he said.
``It's definitely not a first,'' Bayne said. ``Have I seen girls out on the course nude? Yeah. ... They've got nude tournaments, topless tournaments all over the country.''
But not at Ridgeview.
``That's not something we condone or tolerate,'' said Wayne Janvik, general manager of the club, which was rented for the Monday event by tournament organizers.
Officials learned of the topless women the next day from an angry, unidentified woman.
Janvik said that if he had known about the topless caddies, ``I would have asked them to leave - probably the golfers, too.''
The 18-hole tournament, which had a registration fee of $125, was sponsored by the Crystal City Sports Pub, co-owned by Bayne.
He said that 10 to 12 women, about half of whom work at his topless club, were hired as official caddies for the tournament.
They were paid half of what they brought during the auction, and the average auction price was about $100, he said. Although the women initially were supposed to wear bikinis, Monday's rain and wind led them to wear shorts and shirts.
``There were girls auctioned off as caddies because guys like to be around a pretty woman, riding with them,'' Bayne said.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB