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Wyndham lands first big name to tourney

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Friday, June 26, 2009

(Updated Wednesday, August 5 - 1:36 pm)

By Robert Bell
Staff Writer

The Wyndham Championship landed its first major commitment this summer from a golfer who knows a thing or two about majors: U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover.

Speaking after his second round at The Travelers in Cromwell, Conn., Glover said he would “definitely” play in Greensboro this August.

“It’s a home game for me,” he said. “I love the golf course, I like being around my family there, I like everything about the tournament.”

Landing a golfer like Glover isn’t too shocking. He has played in Greensboro the past five years. But it’s a bit of a coup for a tournament that is trying to validate itself on the PGA Tour. Glover is the first golfer to win a major and later play in Greensboro since Jim Furyk won the 2003 U.S. Open.

Wyndham officials were ecstatic when told of the news.

“That’s huge for us, absolutely huge,” tournament director Mark Brazil said.

Accompanying Photos

Bob Child (Associated Press)

Photo Caption: U.S. open champ Lucas Glover.

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beach35

June 26, 2009 - 7:32 pm EDT

The tournament needs Tiger Woods to make it relevant, and they need him to play there every year, like he does in the Quail Hollow tournament. I'd offer him a substantial appearance fee (if possible) if I were the tournament director.

Tarheelpatriot

June 26, 2009 - 8:14 pm EDT

That is great Glover! I love when players who nobody gives a chance go gets those majors! And it is great that when they win they don't lose their kindness to the courses and fans that show the love! :)

Robert Bell

June 26, 2009 - 10:11 pm EDT

beach35,
While appearance fees are a common practice overseas, the PGA Tour prohibits tournaments from paying golfers to compete. In 2005, Ford paid four marquee players to play in an event before the first round of the Ford Championship at Doral under the guise that this was a corporate outing. IMG, the management group for many big-name golfers, sent letters to tournaments offering a list of golfers with suggested fees ranging from $50,000-200,000 for similar corporate outings. The Tour quickly put a stop to this.

Short of owning a certain parcel of land in Augusta, landing Tiger is as easy as 1-2-3:
1) Get yourself a nice golf course.
2) Find a sponsor willing to kick up serious purse money ($6.5 million sounds about right).
The Tour will bend over backwards to accommodate you with No. 3:
3) Get a nice date on the Tour schedule.

tarheelpatriot,
Indeed.

beach35

June 27, 2009 - 12:18 am EDT

There are probably some nice golf courses in North Dakota, Robert Bell, and as far as the money is concerned, considering Tiger is worth several hundred million dollars, kicking up the purse wouldn't make that much difference to him. Nice try though. If the appearance fee is not allowed, short of the tournament being sponsored by Michael Jordan- the "Michael Jordan classic," or a company that is one of his sponsors (the former Buick classic at Torrey Pines), Tiger won't ever come to Greensboro.

Doug Johnson

June 27, 2009 - 2:23 am EDT

Mr. Bell,
Seems you understand the rules of golf.
Greensboro, in my opinion had a great event last year.
Having Tiger would be nice, to be sure, its not a game stopper however.
Greensboro, problem in my opinion is the date.
I am old enough to remember when the GGO, had all the main players.
Then because of a few years of bad weather they started screwing with the dates.