LPGA Seniors Set 2003 Event at Grandover

By NAT WALKER

Professional women’s golf will return to the Piedmont after an absence of a dozen years when the Piedmont Classic is played at Grandover Resort’s East Course next June.

Tentative dates for the Women’s Senior Golf Tour event are June 26-29 and the expectation is that legends of the LPGA such as Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, Jan Stephenson, Hollis Stacy, Jo Anne Carner and Amy Alcott will be among the field of 40 to 45 players.  The tournament has a three-year agreement with the WSGT for the Piedmont Classic.

An LPGA tournament was a staple on the Triad scene for a decade when the Henredon Classic and later the Planters Pat Bradley International were contested at Willow Creek Golf Club near High Point. Many of the same stars who were in their prime during that period, the 1980s, will come back to the Triad in 2003 for the Piedmont Classic.

Certainly, Pat Bradley, who hosted the last three years of the LPGA run at Willow Creek, expects to play.  Sally Little, speaking for the Women’s Senior Golf Tour during a news conference recently at Grandover, said Bradley was “jumping up and down” when she learned of plans for the Piedmont Classic.  “She, along with many other players, made a lot of good friends in North Carolina.”

In fact, Little said, all the players at the recently completed senior tournament at Green Bay were excited about the chance to return to the Piedmont where many of the players have fond memories of good play and wonderful hospitality.  Nancy Lopez and Patty Sheehan are among the winners who played at Willow Creek.

The Piedmont Classic has been in the planning stages for two years, according to tournament director Sue Stanley.  “We hope to raise $100,000 to distribute to such community charities as the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the NASCAR Racing Wives Auxiliary,” she said.

The professional tournament at Grandover will be a 36-hole event played Saturday and Sunday.  A celebrity pro am is planned for the preceding Thursday.  Friday will feature a junior golf clinic and practice rounds.

Stanley said the tournament is talking with a number of potential sponsors and could opt for lining up several “founding sponsors” if a single sponsor cannot be found.  The tournament wants to have a purse of at least $400,000 for the competitors.

Mo Milani, vice president of the Koury Corp. that developed the Grandover Resort complex, said a professional golf tournament was a dream of Joe Koury who died after the resort was well under way.

“Ten years ago when we started Grandover, Joe told me that someday we will have a pro tournament here,” Milani said.  “I am very proud to be in a position to help make that prediction a reality.”

The WSGT began five years ago when 25 players invested $5,000 each.  The tour now boasts some 100 members.  It held two events in 2001 and three in 2002. The Piedmont Classic will be the fourth event on the new circuit.