WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – The ninth edition of the PGA tour stop at White Sulphur Springs, A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, has been moved to mid-September this year. After some initial concern about moving the event into the football season, the tournament remains confident the field will be a good one.
"Over the years of having it on July fourth, we always had a great field and we loved that date but a lot of players said, 'I want to come but it just doesn't work for me. I have my family vacation on the Fourth of July,' or whatever," said Greenbrier pokesperson Cam Huffman.
"It may be those players have now reached back out and said, 'Wow, this is a perfect opportunity for us to come Saturday and Sunday.' We're competing with college football and the NFL, but we're going to try to have those games on TV throughout the course so you can do both at once," Huffman said.
The anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks falls within the tournament dates so, in addition to the military, the first responders will be honored during the week.
"We got a new logo. It has a springhouse and it has eight stars arched over, and those eight stars represent the five branches of military plus the shield or logo for police force, for firefighters and our EMT personnel around the country," said tournament director Robert Harris.
The tournament has made improvements to parking and ticketing this year. The tennis championship event will fall on the same weekend. Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will be joining the field.