Tiger Wasn't The First To Get A Course Ousted

Earlier this year, the rumor that Tiger Woods would play in the 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am naturally surfaced out of the fact that it would afford him a chance to see the new Pebble before the US Open there.  Further, the rumored condition on Tiger's return was that Poppy Hills would be removed from the rotation.  Then, the tournament recommended to remove Poppy and put Monterey Peninsula CC in the rota in its place.

Well, Tiger Woods wasn't the first to get a regular tournament to change courses.  Sam Snead was at the site of this week's Wyndham Championship.

Me and Old Man Par recalls the controversy following Sam Snead's win at the then Greater Greensboro Open in 1960.

Snead, who always had a reputation for being blunt and direct when something was on his mind, started by telling Starmount president Edward Benjamin that he needed to do something about his "lousy" golf course. Snead was hardly done after he hurled that one brickbat, as for several minutes, the Slammer explained in great detail his complaints about Starmount, concluding that "big name golfers" would avoid the GGO in the future if "something wasn't done."

Benjamin then ... disinvited Snead from playing at any further events at Starmount. "Although the Greater Greensboro Open is conducted by the Junior Chamber of Commerce and not by the Starmount Forest Country Club in any sense, I for one would be happy if Snead did his golfing elsewhere."

The next year, Sedgefield became the host of the Greensboro event and is today, resuming its role as host course last year after a 31 year layoff.