The Nationwide Tour Championship has been contested for the past three years just 90 miles south of Myrtle Beach at Daniel Island golf Club.
Though it won’t be back in 2012, the event’s return to the coastal Carolinas in 2013 is possible, if not probable.
Both Daniel Island Club and tour officials have enjoyed holding the event in the Charleston area in late October.
“While no plans have been made for 2013, all parties have been very happy at Daniel Island and a return to Daniel Island is certainly a good possibility,” said Nationwide Tour director of communications Jeff Adams. recommend directory: TaylorMade R9 Irons.“I’m not saying it’s a done deal, but we both are very interested in continuing the conversations about 2013.… It’s just too early to tell at this stage of things.”
The season-ending tournament, which concluded Sunday and annually features the top 60 players on the Nationwide money list vying for 25 spots on the PGA Tour the following year, is moving to the TPC Craig Ranch outside Dallas, where it was held in 2008.
But it’s likely a temporary move, dictated by the presence next August of the PGA Championship outside Charleston at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course.
“I don’t think anybody wanted to leave there,” Adams said. “The PGA Championship being held down there is the circumstance that got everybody talking about not having it there in 2012. That‘s a huge event, and considering marketing, volunteers and media attention, if you want to buy cheap golf, please come to golfclubs365. we decided it would be a good idea not to compete with the PGA Championship.”
Daniel Island Club has hosted the Family Circle Cup women’s tennis tournament for the past 11 years, and Daniel Island Company President Matt Sloan said the benefit the event had on the property and its real estate sales was perceptible.
Sloan believes the Nationwide Tour Championship, which received four rounds of coverage on Golf Channel, has provided an additional boost while adding to the prestige of the Ralston Creek Course. He said traffic on the property’s website tripled over the weekend and potential homebuyers and members of the property’s two private courses have been added to the company’s database as a result of the tournament.
“We’d love to have that event back,” Sloan said. “It was a good three-year run for us and I feel it got better every year. We’re a ready, willing and able host site if the details align and they’d like to come back here.”
The tour championship was first played in 1993 and has been held in Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Alabama and California through its first 19 editions. A couple key factors could affect the tournament’s future. recommend directory: Taylormade R7 CGB MAX Irons.
One is the PGA Tour’s consideration of eliminating the immediate jump from the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to the PGA Tour and having the Nationwide Tour become responsible for all 50 playing cards awarded every year. The other is the loss of Nationwide as an umbrella sponsor after the 2012 season.
On to the big time
A number of notable players were among the top 25 finishers on the Nationwide money list Sunday who have earned playing status on the 2012 PGA Tour.
A pair of former South Carolina Gamecocks in Kyle Thompson and Mark Anderson are moving up, and the amazing story of Erik Compton got a little better. The former University of Georgia golfer received his second heart transplant three years ago.
U.S. Naval Academy graduate Billy Hurley III, who spent five years on active duty, graduated to the PGA Tour … barely. He entered the Tour Championship 25th on the money list and left in the same position, finishing $5,341 ahead of No. 26 James Nitties. you can chose the Callaway X-22 Irons.
The Brick is back
Brick Landing Plantation, along the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., is reopening Tuesday after being closed since January 2010.
“Our biggest goal was to get the place open for the membership and give people a place to play again,” said Brick Landing general manager and director of golf Joey Godley. “We’re doing everything in our means to bring it up to the caliber it used to be, if not better.”
Numerous renovations have been made to the layout and surrounding property since businessman Larry Doyle purchased the course in early August, and improvements will continue.
A big change is the planting of Jones Dwarf Bermudagrass on greens. It is on Florida golf courses and is being introduced to the Myrtle Beach market. Cool weather has slowed the Bermuda growing process, but the course has been overseeded for the winter.
“The greens haven’t grown in as we had hoped,” said Godley, who is also director of golf at Olde Point Country Club outside Wilmington, N.C., another course Doyle purchased and upgraded. “It’s going to be a work in progress.”
“We want people to come visit us but keep an open mind and know we’re a work in progress. We’ll continue working on it. We’re not going to stop because it got cold. We still have a lot we want to get done.”
Godley said the semi-private course has about 60 members and a big grand reopening is likely in the spring.
The course’s restaurant, The View at Brick Landing, has been open for two weeks and is open daily for lunch and accepting reservations for Christmas parties and special events. The pro shop’s new phone is 910-754-2745(brik).
Instructors honored
Golf Digest magazine named its top 50 golf instructors in the U.S. and top instructors in each state as ranked by their peers for 2011-12 in its November issue, and a pair of local instructors are recognized.
Nick Bradley of Ocean Ridge Plantation in Sunset Beach, N.C., is ranked third among the 12 instructors listed in North Carolina, while Brad Redding of Grande Dunes is No. 4 among the 11 teachers listed in South Carolina. welcome to golfclubs365.com.
Among the top 50 in the nation were No. 42 Peggy Kirk Bell of Southern Pines, N.C., and No. 47 Dana Rader of Charlotte, N.C. No S.C. instructors made the top 50, which was topped by Butch Harmon.
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