The Nationwide Tour is in South Carolina this weekend in the Greenville area, marking the 20th consecutive year the tour will play an event in the Greenville area. Only Boise, Idaho, Knoxville, Tenn., Springfield, Mo. and Wichita, Kan. (22 years) and Lafayette, La. and Midland, Texas (20 years) exceed or match Greenville’s longevity.
BIG FIELD, CELEBRITY FILLED – With 168 professionals and its unique pro-am/celebrity format, the BMW Charity Pro-Am boasts the largest field of pros on Tour. Play is spread over three courses. Twenty-three celebrities are entered – Lucas Black, Brad Brownell, Mark Bryan, Andy Buckley, Javier Colon, Jeffrey Donovan, Don Felder, Colt Ford, Bruce Greenwood, Wayne Gretzky, Oliver Hudson, Janet Jones-Gretzky, Josh Kelley, Greg Kinnear, Cheech Marin, Rob Morrow, Terry O’Quinn, Michael Pena, Joe Don Rooney, Kevin Sorbo, Danny Sullivan, Gary Valentine and Patrick Warburton.
HAAS & HAAS – Among the 168 pros in this week’s field are Jay Haas, Sr. and Jay Haas, Jr. The Haas family has called the Thornblade Club community home for many years. Jay Sr. received a sponsor exemption to play during this off week for the Champions Tour, while Jay Jr. played his way in via a recent tournament qualifying event.
CLEMSON CONNECTIONS – The Clemson campus is just 35 minutes from Greenville, and seven players who played college golf at Clemson University are entered in the BMW Charity Pro-Am – Tommy Biershenk, Brent Delahoussaye, Brian Duncan, Elliot Gealy, Matt Hendrix, Kevin Johnson and Charles Warren. In addition Tigers’ head basketball coach Brad Brownell is a participant in the pro-am portion of the event.
