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GREENSBORO - The 2008 Wyndham Championship ended Sunday with Greensboro written all over it.

The tournament returned to Greensboro's historic Sedgefield Country Club, and the winner, Carl Pettersson, graduated from Grimsley High School.

On the first tee, after Pettersson hit his tee shot, a fan hollered, "Go, Whirlie!"

Pettersson is the first player with Greensboro ties to win the local tournament. Brothers Joe and John Inman, who, like Pettersson, played their boyhood golf at Starmount Country Club, won tour events, but not here.

Another Greensboro angle: Pettersson, who now lives near Raleigh, is a board member of the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation. The foundation stages the tournament and made the decision to move it back to Sedgefield, where it last played in 1976.

"It's kind of like one of my bosses won the championship," quipped tournament director Mark Brazil, who works for the foundation and hailed Pettersson at a ceremony at the 18th green, which was ringed by thousands in skyboxes or standing.

"It was special to win this tournament, growing up here," said Pettersson, an N.C. State alumnus, who was wearing a Wolfpack red shirt.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday. All 25,000 available tickets were sold. Tournament officials estimate about 50,000 tickets were sold for last year's tournament at Forest Oaks Country Club.

Players responded to the large crowds and new site with a four-day birdie barrage. Pettersson's four-day total of 259 averaged just over 64 strokes per 18 holes.

Yet he didn't get his third tour victory easily. Runner-up Scott McCarron, a UCLA grad, finished just a shot behind after Pettersson bogeyed 18 and McCarron birdied. Another player, J.J. Henry, shot 62 Sunday, one more than the course record 61 Pettersson shot Friday.

Tournament director Brazil was so elated about the success of the site switch that he made a prediction: The day will come when each day of the tournament will be sold out in advance, as is now the case with the Wachovia Championship last spring in Charlotte. Brazil says 25,000 tickets constitute a sellout. "I think 25,000 is about the number we can handle out here," Brazil said.

Joe DePasquale, Sedgefield Country Club president, had mixed emotions at mid-afternoon Sunday when the last golfers teed off.

"It's all going to be over within a couple of hours," he said sadly. "It has been a great week."

He said he couldn't count the number of people from outside Sedgefield who had told him during the week, "Thank you for letting it come back. It's something special."

They talked of memories of seeing Sam Snead, then 52, win the tournament for the eighth time in 1965 at Sedgefield. Or of two-time champ Doug Sanders wearing chartreuse from feet to neck. Or of Arnold Palmer, who triple-bogeyed the 16th hole in 1972 and lost the tournament.

Palmer returned this year to participate in the opening ceremonies.

"This is the first place I was ever exposed to the PGA Tour - I loved it," said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's rules official and an Elon graduate.

The tournament's return made not only spectators happy but also merchants along High Point Road, which passes Sedgefield. Many of the shopping centers and stores weren't there when the tournament was last here. Back then, Sedgefield seemed out in the country.

"It's phenomenal what a great boost the tournament has been for businesses in the area," said Sedgefield member Kevin Herron.

Bobby Long, a Greensboro businessman and foundation chairman, said the 2008 tournament was awesome, but there's no resting on accolades. The foundation committee will meet soon to go over every detail, looking for improvements.

The loftiest might be a new look for the rusty old water tower that has hovered over Sedgefield's signature Tudor clubhouse probably since it was built in 1926. By next year, the club and foundation hope to have it painted with something like "Sedgefield Country Club, Home of the Wyndham Championship."

The club and foundation want the public to be thinking of next year. A sign on the putting green said, "Save the date, Aug. 17-23, 2009."

Contact Jim Schlosser at 601-9879 or beale1@clearwire.net