Guests to get taste of Dean & DeLuca
Want some babka to go with that pairings sheet?
From Wednesday through Sunday, visitors to the Dean & DeLuca Invitational can visit the fine food purveyor’s Prince Street Marketplace at Colonial Country Club, near the ninth hole.
“We only had a couple of weeks to pull this together, literally from the signing [of the sponsorship agreement] to this,” said Jay Coldren, the company’s managing director. “So we just wanted to do a little taste of what Dean & DeLuca is.
“This isn’t by any means a full store, it’s really just a sample of what we’re bringing to the market in the years to come.”
The 1,800-square-foot shop offers, beverages, ready-made meals, sandwiches, fresh produce, all manner of snack-food tins, coffee beans, kitchen housewares, and chocolate or cinnamon babka, which looks like a bread loaf.
Like the company’s Prince Street Marketplace in New York City, the Colonial shop has a buffalo head mounted on wall, but at Colonial there’s also a longhorn steer.
Bit of a Texas touch? “You bet it is,” Coldren said.
The company plans to have two retail outlets area within the next 18 months. At present, Dean & DeLuca operates full markets as well as café setups in 12 U.S. locations but none in Texas.
“More than anything we want to introduce ourselves to the Fort Worth community,” Coldren said. “We want them to see a little bit of the specialty items, our own signature items, have a little coffee, have some amazing sandwiches, and do something a little different that you wouldn’t expect at a golf tournament.”
Double star power
Dean & DeLuca officials landed a big name for Wednesday’s Colonial Pro-Am in actor Bill Murray of Caddyshack fame.
Murray will tee it up on the No. 1 hole with Dallas resident Jordan Spieth at noon. Others in the group include Colonial tournament chairman Bobby Patton, Spieth’s agent Jay Danzi and Kuhn Ying.
Ready to compete
Fresh off two top-four finishes, former Dallas resident Colt Knost is eager to improve on a tie for 10th here last year.
“I feel great about what I’m doing,” said Knost, who tied for fouth at last week’s AT&T Byron Nelson Championship and was tied for third at the Players Championship the week before. “This is the most consistent year I’ve ever had. Keep putting myself in there with a chance to win, and I think I should have a great chance this week.”
Knost has climbed from 121st to 39th in the FedEx Cup standings this year. The former SMU player won twice on the Web.com tour in 2008, but three third-place finishes is his best showing on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve won at every level except this one, and I just think it’s eventually going to come,” he said.
He believes Colonial’s layout suits his game well, too.
“I just love the old-school golf courses like this,” Knost said. “It’s a place where you can’t overpower it.”
Putt for dough
Colleyville resident and Colonial member Ryan Palmer gave a FedEx Cares short-game clinic Tuesday to Junior Achievement students from Haslet Eaton High School, and participants took turns putting for contributions to a local chapter of JA.
The students raised $5,000.
“The short game is the hardest part of the game,” he said. “It’s good to see kids out here.”
Briefly
Hiroshi Iwata and Stewart Cink have been added to the Dean & DeLuca field as alternates. The list of withdrawals includes Olin Browne, Alex Cejka and Spencer Levin.
This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Guests to get taste of Dean & DeLuca."