Q: RBC to Title Sponsor Greensboro PGA Tour Stop? A: No

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 17, 2010 1:54 PM EDT in Pro Golf

Over the last couple of days, I've been receiving messages from the good folks at the Wyndham Championship, telling me about the new participants for the field. Earlier last week, Anthony Kim's inclusion was announced. Last Friday, Fred Couples was added to the field at the deadline for Sedgefield.

What does this have to do with anything? Three things - in logical order. First, Couples had committed to the JELD-WEN Tradition - a Champions Tour major - before making the switch. Second, both AK and Couples are RBC guys. Finally, the contract with Wyndham to title sponsor the Greensboro event expires this week.

The tournament has announced a 4pm press conference for a major announcement. I'm wondering if RBC won't step in here and take over title sponsorship of the tournament.

Seems odd, right? Well, not really. Raleigh's indoor sports arena is named RBC Centre. The bank has a large presence in North Carolina, particularly because of friendly banking laws. And it has been evident that RBC is making a big push in the game of golf.

Could RBC go the way of AT&T, or how Buick once was - sponsor of multiple PGA Tour events? Or maybe Wyndham has stepped up their game to return as title sponsor, as was speculated a few months ago by tournament director Mark Brazil in the Greater Triad biz sheets.

We find out this afternoon.

UPDATE 1:45 pm ET - North Carolina-based Sports Business Journal has learned that Wyndham will be renewing as title sponsor of the Wyndham Championship. Well, at least we got the sponsor part right.

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Raleigh’s indoor sports arena is named RBC Centre

The RBC’s US headquarters are a mere 10 miles away in the RBC Tower in downtown Raleigh. And the sponsorship of The Vault makes sense given that there is an NHL team that actually leases and operates the building and hockey is Canadian and all. RBC heavily sponsors the Hurricanes’ broadcasts on radio and TV here too.

What doesn’t make sense to me is why this tournament stays at Sedgefield when there are much better courses, some within 1.5 miles of the tourney site. Grandover Resort was built with a stadium design on one course, Bryan Park north of town is holding the Publinks this year and in Winston-Salem, Tanglewood is good enough to have hosted a major in the 1970’s and is still long and mean enough to host a tour event. Further, all three have much better infrastructure than the old school country club that goes through a neighborhood.

Really, this is a tourney in trouble and if they are not careful, it is conceivable that it could eventually move to either Raleigh or another city in the region. TPC Wakefield in Raleigh already hosts a Nationwide Event and it is also where Carl Petterson and to some degree Tim Clark and a few other Nationwide guys call their “home” TPC course. Petterson is a regular at Wakefield…nice guy.

by Charles Boyer on Aug 17, 2010 9:37 AM EDT reply actions

I would guess Sedgefield remains because of the history aspect with Sam Snead.

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by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 17, 2010 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions

most of that was at Starmount Forest

I realize that Sedgefield has great history, but most (or at least a great deal) was at Starmount across town.

Starmount Forest was the inaugural host for the Greater Greensboro Open held in 1938. Sam Snead won that event at the ripe age of 24. Starmount Forest continued its involvement with the GGO (now formally known as the Wyndham Championship) until 1960. Starmount Forest hosted the 1947 Women’s U.S. Open.

It may have a lot to do with it being a Ross course, but as Ben Hogan or Snead once said, Sedgefield has 18 of the best par 4’s you will ever play. That was with old-school equipment, but my take is that Ross’s design is greatly weakened by folks over-powering the course off of the teebox. I do know from having played it that I was not particularly challenged to hit long irons off of the fairways to reach most of the greens, and obviously, I cannot drive the ball anywhere like the pros.

by Charles Boyer on Aug 17, 2010 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions