It’s fascinating how a defending champion can personify the very essence of a tournament. Greensboro, in its entire springtime splendor, is a wonder to behold. Forest Oaks Country Club – the current site of the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic – is as fine a golf course as you’ll find in these parts.

But this is not some glitzy resort town or haven for the semi-retired. Greensboro is an actual city, complete with hard working folk, a real world economy, and a sense of purpose. And while it isn’t his native Louisiana, Hal Sutton must feel right at home in a region that embodies so many of the characteristics that have made the square-jawed, country boy a successful tour player.

Sutton will make his way back to Greensboro later this month in an attempt to become the GGCC’s first repeat champion since Sam Snead. The PGA’s third oldest tour stop is swapping places with the Shell Houston Open this year, and will be held April 23-29. And with $3.5 million up for grabs, the venerable tournament will feature its largest purse to date.

"We have built a strong partnership with Daimler Chrysler over the past five years, and we are extremely grateful for their commitment to keeping our purse at the top of the Tour events," said Jeff Iddings, 2001 General Chairman of the GGCC. "This event means so much to the Greensboro area, and we want to make sure that we remain competitive with the other events on the tour."

Remaining competitive involves much more than just jacking up the purse. Iddings says that the GGCC will be one of the first tournaments to feature the PGA Tour’s new "Shotlink" scoring system – a high tech gadget-lovers’ dream that will feature laser operators in every fairway digitally recording where players’ shots land. This information is then fed into a digitized topographical map of the golf course, and presto: real time statistics.

There is also a possibility that spectators may be able to rent Palm Pilots to track up-to-the-second stats ranging from driving distance to greens hit in regulation. Caddies will also be able to report their players’ club selections to the walking scorers, who in turn will input the information into Palm Pilots of their own. However caddies have bucked the Tour in regards to providing this information.

Should an agreement be reached by tournament time, it is conceivable that you could determine what club your favorite player is hitting into the green almost as soon as he pulls it, and know precisely what the odds are of him hitting a green or fairway in regulation.

As further proof of the GGCC’s commitment to improvement, tournament sponsors have erected a set of new luxury boxes on the 18th hole for use.

"The boxes will have flat screen televisions, hardwood floors, observation decks, their own bar, and their own self contained restrooms," Iddings says. "They will be as nice as anything you’ll find at a golf tournament."

The 63-year-old GGCC is as steeped in history as any non-major tour stop. Sam Snead won the inaugural Greater Greensboro Open back in 1938, and went on to capture six more titles between 1939 and 1965. This year also marks the 40^th anniversary of Charlie Sifford’s historic entry into the tournament. Sifford was the first African American to compete in a PGA Tour event, and he forever changed the landscape of golf by breaking a color barrier that few thought could be penetrated.

But Sifford did more than just participate – he pocketed a check for $1,300 for finishing fourth behind winner Mike Souchak, Sam Snead, and Billy Maxwell. The Charlotte native will be playing in Wednesday’s pro-am event, and Iddings believes Sifford’s presence will be an emotional homecoming for any and everyone involved with the tournament.

"No one really knows how old he is," Iddings says laughing. "So we won’t really know if he shoots his age."

A tradition since 1998, Snead is scheduled to be on the 18^th green Sunday to present the Sam Snead Trophy to this year’s winner.

You know those new TPC courses with all the artificial mounding, faux railroad ties, and severely undulating greens? Well, Forest Oaks isn’t one of them.

"We have over 150 players (in the field) and you are probably going to get over 80 opinions on the course," says Iddings about the forty-year-old Ellis Maples designed layout. "Several players have commented that they really like our course. There are guys that love it, and there are guys that have expressed that they aren’t crazy about it."

Love it or hate it, Forest Oaks is home to the GGCC until a new course designed specifically for the tournament opens sometime in the near future. What players will find is a long golf course – Forest Oaks plays to nearly 7,200 yards. They will also find that reaching any of the course’s four par fives in two is a challenge for even the longest of hitters.

But should Forest Oaks’ sheer brawn not challenge the best players in the world, Iddings and the Greensboro Jaycees will be sure that the rough is grown to U.S. Open proportions.

"The rough will be up, as it always is," Iddings says. "You are going to be penalized every time you hit in the rough. Typically our champions have been guys that have putted well and driven well off the tee."

While it wasn’t necessarily designed for spectators, Forest Oaks sets up surprisingly well for the droves of patrons who come out each year to bask in the warm Carolina sunshine. The opening hole sports grandstand bleachers that offer views down the first and ninth fairways.

For entertainment purposes, it’s hard to beat No. 13, the course’s signature hole. The 503-yard par-5 is bisected by a lake that Iddings says 99 percent of Tour players can’t carry. You can also situate yourself atop one of the hills on either side of the fairway and watch some of the longer hitters go for the green in two from behind the lake. The 188-yard par-3 seventeenth hole is also a favorite among spectators. The hole runs uphill, and sitting behind the green you can watch players’ shots approaching at what seems like eye level.

The GGCC has swapped its traditional mid April slot with the Shell Houston Open for a late April date that Iddings feels may actually improve the quality of the field.

"What we are finding is that for the most part, most of the players are happy about it," he says. "What we have found is that players play the Masters and then (the WorldCom Classic) in Hilton Head, and then they want to take a week off. Well, we have typically been that week off."

At the time of this writing, the field consists of a few sure things, and a whole bunch of maybes. Sutton will be back to defend his championship, and past champions Trevor Dodds and Frank Nobilo are also expected.

Iddings, who recently returned from a recruiting trip to the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, says the field will be stocked with exciting young players like Australia’s Aaron Baddeley, former Texas Christian University All-American J.J. Henry, and former University of Oklahoma star Hunter Haas (no relation to Jay).

David Duval, Phil Mickelson, and Justin Leonard are also being pursued by the GGCC, but Iddings says that most of the bigger name players won’t commit until after the Masters. Those players that do elect to pay a visit to the Triad won’t be disappointed with the challenge of golf that awaits them, according to Iddings.

"There has been a perception that it is not challenging for the Tour players anymore, but that isn’t the case," he says. "If you look at the scores we’ve had and the scores other tournaments have had, we are right there with the best of them."

The playing card may be nowhere near complete, but the smart money should be placed on straight-hitting players with above average length off the tee. The course itself is not extremely narrow, but staying out of the grizzly rough is the key to scoring.

"A guy like Hal Sutton smiles when he knows we are going to grow the rough up because he hits it straight down the fairway," Iddings says.

Obliviously, past champions such as Dodds, Nobilo, Mark O’Meara, Jesper Parnevick and Davis Love III have the game it requires to conquer Forest Oaks. But also watch out for Jim Furyk, Jeff Maggert, and Brad Faxon. Joe Durant and Mark Calcavecchia are players near the top of the Tour in total driving (distance plus accuracy), so look out for either of these players should they enter the field.