In the News

PINEHURST, NC – Pinehurst has signed an agreement with the renowned firm of Coore and Crenshaw Inc., to return both natural and strategic character to its championship No. 2 course. Work will be conducted gradually in 2010 without any closure to the course or to individual holes until mid-November.

The project’s philosophy is to restore the course’s natural aesthetic characteristics and to bring back strategic play originally crafted by Donald Ross, but that have been lost over time. The changes include returning sandy waste areas, native wiregrass and natural bunker edges; widening the fairways to play as they did in the era from 1935 to 1960; and reducing the amount of manicured rough.

Ping Chairman and CEO John Solheim announced today that Ping will waive its rights that prevent the PGA Tour from prohibiting the use of pre-April 1990 Ping Eye2 irons and wedges that do not meet the 2010 Condition of Competition from being played at PGA Tour professional competitions.

The waiver goes into effect March 29 and applies to the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. As a result of a request from the USGA, Ping will also apply the waiver to the U.S. Open in June. The PGA Tour will then adopt a Condition of the Competition that does not provide an exception for the pre-April 1990 Ping Eye2 irons.

Golfer’s Guide Marketing Solutions, one of the nation’s leading golf marketing companies, is launching its first-ever golf tournament– the Golfer’s Guide National Team Classic – slated to take place next February in Las Vegas.

The tournament will feature two-man amateur teams from around North America competing over three days on several of the finest golf courses in the Las Vegas area. The Rio All Suites hotel has signed on to be the host casino for the National Team Classic, serving as home base for all the players during the Feb. 20-23, 2011 event.

Rosie Jones, a 13-time winner on the LPGA Tour who played on seven different Solheim Cup teams during her storied career spanning nearly three decades, has been selected captain of the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup Team. The 2011 Solheim Cup will be played at Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland from Sept. 23-25.

“I am honored and absolutely ecstatic to be chosen as the 2011 Solheim Cup captain,” said Jones, a playing member of the first U.S. Solheim Cup team in 1990 who also sank the putt to clinch the 2002 Solheim Cup event. “The Solheim Cup has been a huge part of my career as a player, and now it will be even more exciting as I prepare for what promises to be another great Solheim Cup in Ireland. I couldn't be more proud to represent the United States and have the opportunity to lead our players across the pond to Killeen Castle to retain the Cup.”

The International Golf Federation’s Olympic Committee has announced through its Executive Committee that it will begin a search for a full-time executive director, who will co-ordinate day-to-day operations from Lausanne, Switzerland, as preparations intensify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Current plans call for the executive director position to be based at a new IGF Headquarters in Lausanne so that interaction with the International Olympic Committee and members of the Olympic Family can be facilitated.

For a second straight year the Mike and Mike in the Morning national sports talk show will be broadcasting live from the Shell Houston Open PGA Tour event.

Hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic will be doing their show live from the Champions Pavilion, adjacent to the 18th hole at the Redstone Golf Club – Tournament Course. Simulcast on ESPN2 television, the syndicated ESPN Radio show is carried locally by ESPN 97.5 The Ticket (KFNC-FM). The show will air from 5-9 a.m. CST.

adidas is introducing its latest golf shoe with a monumental promotion at this week's PGA Tour stop - The Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona.

If either adidas Golf Tour Staff Professional Kenny Perry or Pat Perez registers a hole-in-one on the famed stadium par-3 16th hole during tournament play, 10,000 lucky people will receive a FREE pair of adidas Golf Powerband 3.0 footwear.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club will host The Open Championship in 2014. It will be the 12th time the Hoylake links has hosted golf’s oldest major.

The venue has witnessed a string of unique Open Champions: in 1907, Arnaud Massy became the only Frenchman to have won the title; Fred Daly became the first Irishman to do so, in 1947; and Argentine golfer Roberto De Vicenzo became the first South American to win a major when he lifted the Claret Jug in 1967.

Participants from The First Tee Chapters will be selected to cover PGA Tour and Champions Tour events during the 2010 season. Three participants of The First Tee from each tournament location will be selected and given the opportunity to blog from the tournament for www.pgatour.com. 

The First Tee Junior Course Reporters will be reporting next from the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, Feb. 15 through 21.

A number of very recognizable names will be on hand as the eGolf Professional Tour opens its 2010 season in Hilton Head Island. Nineteen-year-old Tadd Fujikawa, the youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Open, embattled Doug Barron, who was recently suspended for violating the PGA Tour's substance-abuse policy, former NFL All-Pro Shannon Sharpe, Ty Tryon and Drew Weaver headline the 204 -player field.

The season-opening event will be played at Palmetto Hall Plantation Club Feb. 17-20. Players will compete for an estimated purse of $235,000 at the Palmetto Hall Championship, with an estimated $35,000 going to the winner.