Chrysler Classic of Greensboro is a PGA TOUR Event

It's Fall. The days are shorter, the leaves in the trees are beginning to change color, the kids are back in school and John Hammer at The Rhinoceros Times has written his perennial article reminding the good people of this sleepy little town that the professional golf tournament played here since 1938 is no longer called the GGO.

The article entitled "Support Your Local Golf Tournament" and it appeared in the Thursday, September 15, 2005 edition of the Rhino.

To say this article was expected is an understatement. I have bulbs planted in my yard that are less reliable than this annual right of passage. I predicted this type of article in an earlier post entitled "What's in a Name?" I used articles like this as an example of local media bias.

Again I ask, "When was the last time anyone ever called the local baseball team the Bats?" Why doesn't every article written about them begin with some sort of tip of the hat to the fact they had a different name two years ago?

While we are on the subject, is it ok for me to continue to refer to my alma mater as the State Normal and Industrial School or do I need to call it UNCG?

The name of the event was changed in 2003 to the Chrysler Classic. The good people at Chrysler, who have sponsored the event for the last ten years, were nice enough to allow the Greenboro Jaycees to leave the name of our city in the title.

You would think that after two years even a weekly paper would catch up with the rest of us. Chrysler has been a great partner for the last ten years and every time their name gets left out of an article-so that some editor can talk a walk down memory lane-they have been done a disservice.

This community owns them better than that. If we can't treat our guest any better than this, then maybe they do need to go elsewhere. (This includes our friends in the furniture business as well.)

There's one more common error I'd like to point out. The Chrysler Classic of Greensboro is not a PGA event. The CCG is a PGA TOUR event. (Yes, that's how they spell it.) Here is the difference.

The PGA of America is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the game of golf while enhancing its standards. The Association is made up of more than 28,000 men and women PGA Professionals dedicated to growing participation in the game. PGA Professionals work to enhance the enjoyment and experience for the more than 25 million golfers in the USA.

The PGA TOUR is a tax-exempt membership organization for professional golfers. The PGA TOUR has 48 official events. The mission of the PGA TOUR is to expand domestically and internationally so as to substantially increase player financial benefits while maintaining its commitment to the integrity of the game.

For once, let's focus on the present. We have a tournament in Greensboro right now. Let's call it by it's name and make those fans, sponsors and PGA TOUR officials as happy as we can.