Saturday, October 14, 2006
Love Signs Autographs
Davis Love III signs autographs in the media tent with the help of PGA Tour Media OfficialJoe Chemycz.
Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Staff
Mark Brazil and the staff of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro standing with Davis Love III.
2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro History Walk
Kevin von der Lippe and Randy Harris would like to thank the members of Sedgefield Country Club, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro and Mark Brazil for making this year's History Walk possible.
Monday, October 09, 2006
History Walk Tour
Kevin von der Lippe takes PGA TOUR Official Tim Crosby on a brief tour of this year's History Walk.
Guinness Toast for Friends of Dan on 10/10/06 at 6:30 pm
"Even the death of friends will inspire us as much as their lives...Their memories will be encrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts, as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss; for our friends have no place in the graveyard."
Henry David Thoreau, 1849
We would love for you all to join us for a Guinness toast to Dan. Just about everyone of this friends has children or doesn't live in Greensboro anymore. So if you can't join us, we'll raise a glass at 6:30 pm on 10/10/06.
Henry David Thoreau, 1849
We would love for you all to join us for a Guinness toast to Dan. Just about everyone of this friends has children or doesn't live in Greensboro anymore. So if you can't join us, we'll raise a glass at 6:30 pm on 10/10/06.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Cindy Farmer Visits the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro History Walk
Cindy Farmer takes a moment to visit this year's History Walk.
2006 Green Coat Club Breakfast
Sabrah Hardin hugs Mark Brazil moments after he received his Green Coat.
2006 Green Coat Club Breakfast
2005 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro General Chairman Justin Conrad with newest Green Coat Club member Mark Brazil and 1998-99 Greensboro Jaycee President Kevin von der Lippe.
AstraZeneca Charity Challenge
Congratulations Chris Couch and Davis Love III, winners of the AstraZeneca Charity Challenge at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. The AstraZeneca Charity Challenge is a season-long competition that recognizes the leader entering the final round at 35 PGA TOUR events.
On behalf of Chris Couch and Davis Love III and the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, $50,000 will be donated to the American Cancer Society and $50,000 will be donated to Sisters Network, Inc.
Throughout the month of October, AstraZeneca is donating $400,000 to cancer awareness charities in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. By the end of this season, AstraZeneca will have donated a three-year total of $9.7 million to charities through the program.
On behalf of Chris Couch and Davis Love III and the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, $50,000 will be donated to the American Cancer Society and $50,000 will be donated to Sisters Network, Inc.
Throughout the month of October, AstraZeneca is donating $400,000 to cancer awareness charities in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. By the end of this season, AstraZeneca will have donated a three-year total of $9.7 million to charities through the program.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Complete Rob Goodman Interview with Stephen Holmes
CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO
October 06, 2006
An interview with:
STEPHEN HOLMES
ROB GOODMAN: Alright. We have Steve Holmes, the President, Chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide.
Q Steve, Jonathan Lowe from News 14.
How do you expect the Wyndham to be different from the Chrysler Classic and then, secondly, what do you expect to bring to the Triad next year?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, there's a couple of big changes as Wyndham takes over sponsorship of the event. The Wyndham Championship will be held in August, as I'm sure you're all aware, and it will be held as the final event of the FedExCup qualifying tournament so it will be a major event within the PGA Tour calendar as the FedExCup qualifying comes to a head.
So that is, for us, very, very exciting to be part of that and to see it moving to August is a real plus for a lot of things, including beating some of the cold weather you have right down here right now.
What we're going to bring to the Triad is a lot of excitement, lot of energy, I think. We're very, very excited to be part of this event.
We looked for a long time to determine where we wanted to put our effort following becoming a separate public company in August of this year.
As Wyndham Worldwide, we started looking around to see where we wanted to kind of put a stake in the ground and say this is what we want to stand for and this is what we mean and to be part of an event that is really run by a charitable foundation is a real plus for us.
We kind of build our business as one on one of your core values of giving back to the community so being in an environment where the event is not only a great commercial event for us but also one that supports the community is really exciting for us.
Q Steve, when did you first contact IGT?
STEPHEN HOLMES: When did we first contact IMG you mean?
Boy, boy, I don't remember the date. It was several months ago. We actually contacted them, not in reference specifically to this event, but obviously IMG is a leader in sports marketing, was a group that we reached out to just to kind of get some ideas and thoughts.
They introduced to us this idea. We got to understand more about the FedExCup Series and the importance that this event is the final event would have in the FedExCup Series and that really created the excitement for us and got us really hooked on this.
Q So your initial reaching out to them was not for a PGA Event?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, we felt that it was probably would probably end up being a PGA Event, frankly, because the demographics line up so well for our marketing base.
We're marketing as Wyndham Worldwide, we market to consumers in general but we market to a lot of leisure travelers who stay at Wyndham Hotels or any of other branded hotels, as well as people who look at buying timeshare who are very much in the demographic that matches with the golf demographics.
So when you step back and look at it, it probably is one of the greatest connections demographically we could make with our customer base. So we were focused on probably doing something in the golf arena but we were open to any other ideas that they came up with.
Q Does Wyndham own any golf resorts and if you do, would you ever consider building a golf resort/hotel in this area?
STEPHEN HOLMES: We don't we don't own any golf courses, we don't own any hotels, frankly. We're a franchisor and manager of hotels.
We have a number of our timeshare resorts that are located on golf courses. The Glade in Tennessee. There's a number of our resorts that are affiliated with golf courses, but your question of would we consider building a hotel resort golf, hotel down here in this area?
Again, we're not developers of hotels. We're managers of the brand. The Wyndham brand, the Wingate brand, Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, we've got nine brands that are part of our portfolio.
We manage those as franchisors with franchisees who actually own and manage the hotels.
Would we encourage somebody to build a Wyndham hotel down in this area? Absolutely? It's a beautiful area and has a lot of great commerce so it's a great market for us.
Q Will the golf tournament be here next year at this golf course?
STEPHEN HOLMES: There's speculation that's been swirling around. Frankly, I'm not the one to ask that of.
I think the right people to talk to about that at the right time is the Board of Directors and the PGA Tour which really is the one who sanctions locations.
Q One of the things that some people talk about, if four years from now when this contract expires is to keep it a step above some of the other competitors is maybe a bigger purse.
Are y'all interested in make a bigger financial commitment? I know you're locked into this four year period.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Four years is a long time. I don't know what we'll be looking at four years from now. We expect to get a great business benefit from the association of the Wyndham Championship with the PGA Tour and with Greensboro.
We have some roots in Greensboro through the Richard Petty Association with children down here. It's one of the great, one of the great organizations that we're involved with.
So Greensboro has a place in our heart and we'd love to see this become even a more successful tournament, if possible. But what's going to happen four years from now, you know, your guess is probably as good as mine right now.
Q Here's an easy one for you. What are you most excited about as far as coming to this area, bringing a PGA Tour to this area, if anything?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, I think one of the things that really excites us about it is that this is a large market for our customers.
People who buy timeshare, either under the Fairfield name or Trendwest name, a lot of them are from this area. It's an area that a lot of our very loyal and happy customers live and so we're happy to be in an area that has a large customer base.
In addition to that, you know, just the tradition. I love history, I love the traditions that exist within golf. You're talking about a tournament here that's been around for nearly 70 years and there aren't very many like that.
So, to be associated with an event that has such rich, deep history, we're very proud for the Wyndham Championship to be part of that.
Q Were you surprised or motivated anymore by Crowne Plaza and their deal down in Dallas?
STEPHEN HOLMES: No. It really, frankly, wasn't even on the radar screen until after we made our decision on this opportunity.
We're really focused on what's right for Wyndham Worldwide and we are a new public company just launching on August 1st of this year on the New York Stock Exchange.
While we're new, we're not small. We've got a market cap of about $6 billion so we're a large company but we're a new company.
Our focus really over the last several months in preparation for spinning off and becoming a separate public company was to find the right platform for us. What other people are doing wasn't really didn't really play into our decision process.
Finding something that had great community attraction like this tournament does and the local market but also has such a great platform as the final tournament on the qualifying round of the FedExCup for next year really made it important for us to bring the Wyndham Championship here and really put our name out in front of consumer.
Q Have you ever sponsored a golfer, sponsored a tournament on television, commercial
STEPHEN HOLMES: Have we ever sponsored a golfer or tournament hat? There's some golfers who wear some of our product, not the Wyndham product. We have a lot of different sponsorships through our various brands, Super 8 sponsors NASCAR. It happens to be well aligned with the customer base of Super 8.
We have Fairfield has had its logo on some apparel of PGA Tour professionals.
But never to the degree that we're looking at here with the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.
Q You said that you were interested in title sponsorship of a PGA Event. That was very intriguing.
Were there other events you were looking at or pretty much the only one or your radar?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Golf?
Q PGA Event.
STEPHEN HOLMES: There's a couple others we looked at, yes, over last six months or year that we thought about and looked at and we've talked to people about possible sponsorships.
This one happened to just click with us perfectly and so when IMG brought this forward as an opportunity, we really gravitated towards it very, very quickly but we did look at other ones.
Q You mentioned the history of this event.
There's a lot of oldtimers around here are sorry to see Greensboro leaving the name of the tournament.
Was that ever any part of the negotiations as to leaving or somehow incorporated Greensboro into the name?
STEPHEN HOLMES: It wasn't because and probably because one of our requirements in looking at a sponsorship opportunity was to get the Wyndham Championship and Wyndham name out there as the event. There will always be the history of the Greensboro events in golf and this is a continuation and extension of that.
But we really were looking at the opportunity to get the Wyndham name out in front of the consumer.
So, frankly it didn't come into the negotiations as far as I was aware because it was a requirement of ours coming into the discussions.
Q How important is it to get a strong field here in the future for this tournament's success? What do you think your company can do to support that?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, we'll do everything we can to make this event wildly successful and attractive to the Tour Professionals.
Moving it to August helps, clearly. And I think with the buildup of the FedExCup Tour, that certainly will put some momentum behind it but we really want to make sure that this is an event that attracts the Tour Professionals, that it's a showcase for them and it's an opportunity for them to really enjoy the event.
So, we've begun talks about what we can do to add I'm not going to talk about anything specific right now but to add more excitement and make this an event that the pros really want to come and play at.
To answer your first question, having a big field, a power field is obviously very important. From a marketing standpoint, you know, there are Tour events that have the top players and Tour event that don't have the top players.
The top players drive the television ratings and is really what's going to drive the greater exposure. We would love to see a large field, large, great field.
Q Will this event be already for you like many other sponsors in the past of golf tournaments, be a big party for your staff, your executs and all your customers and suppliers down the line?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, I don't know if it will be a big party. It will probably be a lot of work for them because we really we have a broad base of customers, developers who build timeshare resorts who are part of our RCI exchange network; hotel owners who build hotels that are part of our network as well as many of our affiliate partnerships that we have with our timeshare group will want all of them to have the opportunity to experience the fantastic hospitality of Greensboro and to enjoy the event.
So, that probably won't make it much of a party for our employees because they're going to be doing a lot of work making sure our customers are happy, but I think we will certainly make this a central theme in our marketing efforts through the year culminating.
It won't just be a four day event for us, it will be a full year long buildup towards this event and being a travel company and I will I'll add this to that question because it kind of fits in there, being a travel company that's focused largely on leisure, as well as business travel, our year kind of comes up to a head at the end of August. That's the end of the summer, that's the end of the heavy leisure travel season for families.
So it really fits well into our marketing program to be marketing all the way through the spring as the PGA Tour starts right up until the end of the summer.
So it fits very well for a number of reasons but we're really excited to be part of it.
Q Being a Fairfield owner, I'm just personally interested, what kind of percentage the timeshare market is of the whole picture.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Timeshare represents about 37 percent of our earnings. It is the largest piece of our earnings within Wyndham Worldwide. Fairfield and Trendwest are the two brands that we trade under right now. And I'm happy to hear that you're a Fairfield customer and hopefully enjoying your product.
It's a product that has timeshare, for those much who don't own it or don't know about the product, has extremely high loyalty. Forty percent of the people who buy timeshare buy more because they enjoy the product and they use it.
We have a very, very loyal customer base and we want them to be very excited about the Wyndham Championship as well.
ROB GOODMAN: Anyone else? Steve, thanks very much.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Thank you.
(This interview was taken from the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro website.)
October 06, 2006
An interview with:
STEPHEN HOLMES
ROB GOODMAN: Alright. We have Steve Holmes, the President, Chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide.
Q Steve, Jonathan Lowe from News 14.
How do you expect the Wyndham to be different from the Chrysler Classic and then, secondly, what do you expect to bring to the Triad next year?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, there's a couple of big changes as Wyndham takes over sponsorship of the event. The Wyndham Championship will be held in August, as I'm sure you're all aware, and it will be held as the final event of the FedExCup qualifying tournament so it will be a major event within the PGA Tour calendar as the FedExCup qualifying comes to a head.
So that is, for us, very, very exciting to be part of that and to see it moving to August is a real plus for a lot of things, including beating some of the cold weather you have right down here right now.
What we're going to bring to the Triad is a lot of excitement, lot of energy, I think. We're very, very excited to be part of this event.
We looked for a long time to determine where we wanted to put our effort following becoming a separate public company in August of this year.
As Wyndham Worldwide, we started looking around to see where we wanted to kind of put a stake in the ground and say this is what we want to stand for and this is what we mean and to be part of an event that is really run by a charitable foundation is a real plus for us.
We kind of build our business as one on one of your core values of giving back to the community so being in an environment where the event is not only a great commercial event for us but also one that supports the community is really exciting for us.
Q Steve, when did you first contact IGT?
STEPHEN HOLMES: When did we first contact IMG you mean?
Boy, boy, I don't remember the date. It was several months ago. We actually contacted them, not in reference specifically to this event, but obviously IMG is a leader in sports marketing, was a group that we reached out to just to kind of get some ideas and thoughts.
They introduced to us this idea. We got to understand more about the FedExCup Series and the importance that this event is the final event would have in the FedExCup Series and that really created the excitement for us and got us really hooked on this.
Q So your initial reaching out to them was not for a PGA Event?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, we felt that it was probably would probably end up being a PGA Event, frankly, because the demographics line up so well for our marketing base.
We're marketing as Wyndham Worldwide, we market to consumers in general but we market to a lot of leisure travelers who stay at Wyndham Hotels or any of other branded hotels, as well as people who look at buying timeshare who are very much in the demographic that matches with the golf demographics.
So when you step back and look at it, it probably is one of the greatest connections demographically we could make with our customer base. So we were focused on probably doing something in the golf arena but we were open to any other ideas that they came up with.
Q Does Wyndham own any golf resorts and if you do, would you ever consider building a golf resort/hotel in this area?
STEPHEN HOLMES: We don't we don't own any golf courses, we don't own any hotels, frankly. We're a franchisor and manager of hotels.
We have a number of our timeshare resorts that are located on golf courses. The Glade in Tennessee. There's a number of our resorts that are affiliated with golf courses, but your question of would we consider building a hotel resort golf, hotel down here in this area?
Again, we're not developers of hotels. We're managers of the brand. The Wyndham brand, the Wingate brand, Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, we've got nine brands that are part of our portfolio.
We manage those as franchisors with franchisees who actually own and manage the hotels.
Would we encourage somebody to build a Wyndham hotel down in this area? Absolutely? It's a beautiful area and has a lot of great commerce so it's a great market for us.
Q Will the golf tournament be here next year at this golf course?
STEPHEN HOLMES: There's speculation that's been swirling around. Frankly, I'm not the one to ask that of.
I think the right people to talk to about that at the right time is the Board of Directors and the PGA Tour which really is the one who sanctions locations.
Q One of the things that some people talk about, if four years from now when this contract expires is to keep it a step above some of the other competitors is maybe a bigger purse.
Are y'all interested in make a bigger financial commitment? I know you're locked into this four year period.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Four years is a long time. I don't know what we'll be looking at four years from now. We expect to get a great business benefit from the association of the Wyndham Championship with the PGA Tour and with Greensboro.
We have some roots in Greensboro through the Richard Petty Association with children down here. It's one of the great, one of the great organizations that we're involved with.
So Greensboro has a place in our heart and we'd love to see this become even a more successful tournament, if possible. But what's going to happen four years from now, you know, your guess is probably as good as mine right now.
Q Here's an easy one for you. What are you most excited about as far as coming to this area, bringing a PGA Tour to this area, if anything?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, I think one of the things that really excites us about it is that this is a large market for our customers.
People who buy timeshare, either under the Fairfield name or Trendwest name, a lot of them are from this area. It's an area that a lot of our very loyal and happy customers live and so we're happy to be in an area that has a large customer base.
In addition to that, you know, just the tradition. I love history, I love the traditions that exist within golf. You're talking about a tournament here that's been around for nearly 70 years and there aren't very many like that.
So, to be associated with an event that has such rich, deep history, we're very proud for the Wyndham Championship to be part of that.
Q Were you surprised or motivated anymore by Crowne Plaza and their deal down in Dallas?
STEPHEN HOLMES: No. It really, frankly, wasn't even on the radar screen until after we made our decision on this opportunity.
We're really focused on what's right for Wyndham Worldwide and we are a new public company just launching on August 1st of this year on the New York Stock Exchange.
While we're new, we're not small. We've got a market cap of about $6 billion so we're a large company but we're a new company.
Our focus really over the last several months in preparation for spinning off and becoming a separate public company was to find the right platform for us. What other people are doing wasn't really didn't really play into our decision process.
Finding something that had great community attraction like this tournament does and the local market but also has such a great platform as the final tournament on the qualifying round of the FedExCup for next year really made it important for us to bring the Wyndham Championship here and really put our name out in front of consumer.
Q Have you ever sponsored a golfer, sponsored a tournament on television, commercial
STEPHEN HOLMES: Have we ever sponsored a golfer or tournament hat? There's some golfers who wear some of our product, not the Wyndham product. We have a lot of different sponsorships through our various brands, Super 8 sponsors NASCAR. It happens to be well aligned with the customer base of Super 8.
We have Fairfield has had its logo on some apparel of PGA Tour professionals.
But never to the degree that we're looking at here with the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.
Q You said that you were interested in title sponsorship of a PGA Event. That was very intriguing.
Were there other events you were looking at or pretty much the only one or your radar?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Golf?
Q PGA Event.
STEPHEN HOLMES: There's a couple others we looked at, yes, over last six months or year that we thought about and looked at and we've talked to people about possible sponsorships.
This one happened to just click with us perfectly and so when IMG brought this forward as an opportunity, we really gravitated towards it very, very quickly but we did look at other ones.
Q You mentioned the history of this event.
There's a lot of oldtimers around here are sorry to see Greensboro leaving the name of the tournament.
Was that ever any part of the negotiations as to leaving or somehow incorporated Greensboro into the name?
STEPHEN HOLMES: It wasn't because and probably because one of our requirements in looking at a sponsorship opportunity was to get the Wyndham Championship and Wyndham name out there as the event. There will always be the history of the Greensboro events in golf and this is a continuation and extension of that.
But we really were looking at the opportunity to get the Wyndham name out in front of the consumer.
So, frankly it didn't come into the negotiations as far as I was aware because it was a requirement of ours coming into the discussions.
Q How important is it to get a strong field here in the future for this tournament's success? What do you think your company can do to support that?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, we'll do everything we can to make this event wildly successful and attractive to the Tour Professionals.
Moving it to August helps, clearly. And I think with the buildup of the FedExCup Tour, that certainly will put some momentum behind it but we really want to make sure that this is an event that attracts the Tour Professionals, that it's a showcase for them and it's an opportunity for them to really enjoy the event.
So, we've begun talks about what we can do to add I'm not going to talk about anything specific right now but to add more excitement and make this an event that the pros really want to come and play at.
To answer your first question, having a big field, a power field is obviously very important. From a marketing standpoint, you know, there are Tour events that have the top players and Tour event that don't have the top players.
The top players drive the television ratings and is really what's going to drive the greater exposure. We would love to see a large field, large, great field.
Q Will this event be already for you like many other sponsors in the past of golf tournaments, be a big party for your staff, your executs and all your customers and suppliers down the line?
STEPHEN HOLMES: Well, I don't know if it will be a big party. It will probably be a lot of work for them because we really we have a broad base of customers, developers who build timeshare resorts who are part of our RCI exchange network; hotel owners who build hotels that are part of our network as well as many of our affiliate partnerships that we have with our timeshare group will want all of them to have the opportunity to experience the fantastic hospitality of Greensboro and to enjoy the event.
So, that probably won't make it much of a party for our employees because they're going to be doing a lot of work making sure our customers are happy, but I think we will certainly make this a central theme in our marketing efforts through the year culminating.
It won't just be a four day event for us, it will be a full year long buildup towards this event and being a travel company and I will I'll add this to that question because it kind of fits in there, being a travel company that's focused largely on leisure, as well as business travel, our year kind of comes up to a head at the end of August. That's the end of the summer, that's the end of the heavy leisure travel season for families.
So it really fits well into our marketing program to be marketing all the way through the spring as the PGA Tour starts right up until the end of the summer.
So it fits very well for a number of reasons but we're really excited to be part of it.
Q Being a Fairfield owner, I'm just personally interested, what kind of percentage the timeshare market is of the whole picture.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Timeshare represents about 37 percent of our earnings. It is the largest piece of our earnings within Wyndham Worldwide. Fairfield and Trendwest are the two brands that we trade under right now. And I'm happy to hear that you're a Fairfield customer and hopefully enjoying your product.
It's a product that has timeshare, for those much who don't own it or don't know about the product, has extremely high loyalty. Forty percent of the people who buy timeshare buy more because they enjoy the product and they use it.
We have a very, very loyal customer base and we want them to be very excited about the Wyndham Championship as well.
ROB GOODMAN: Anyone else? Steve, thanks very much.
STEPHEN HOLMES: Thank you.
(This interview was taken from the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro website.)
Green Coat Club Welcomes Mark Brazil
The newest member of the Green Coat Club, Mark Brazil, is welcomed by 2005 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Honorary Chairman Ken Conrad.
2006 Green Coat Club Breakfast
Three time Green Coat Carson Bain with 1997-98 Greensboro Jaycee President Kevin von der Lippe at the 2006 Green Coat Club Breakfast.
Friday, October 06, 2006
"Greensboro" Not Part of Negotiations
At the press conference held at the Irwin Smallwood Media Center on Friday afternoon Stephen Holmes, the President, Chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide was asked if keeping "Greensboro" in the name of next year's golf tournament was ever part of the negotiations?
Holmes replied, "It wasn't because and probably because one of the requirements in looking at a sponsorship opportunity was to get the Wyndham championship and Wyndham name out there as the event. There will always be the history of Greensboro events in golf and this is a continuation and extension of that."
Holmes continued saying, "So, frankly it didn't come into the negotiations as far as I was aware because it was a requirement of ours coming into the discussions."
Holmes replied, "It wasn't because and probably because one of the requirements in looking at a sponsorship opportunity was to get the Wyndham championship and Wyndham name out there as the event. There will always be the history of Greensboro events in golf and this is a continuation and extension of that."
Holmes continued saying, "So, frankly it didn't come into the negotiations as far as I was aware because it was a requirement of ours coming into the discussions."
Will the Wyndham Championship Be Played at Forest Oaks?
During a Friday interview between Rob Goodman and Stephen Holmes, the President, Chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide the following question was asked:
Q: Will the golf tournament be here (Forest Oaks) next year at this course?
Stephen Holmes: There's speculation that's been swirling around. Frankly, I'm not the one to ask that of. I think the right people to talk to about that at the right time is the Board of Directors and the PGA TOUR which really is the one who sanctions locations.
Q: Will the golf tournament be here (Forest Oaks) next year at this course?
Stephen Holmes: There's speculation that's been swirling around. Frankly, I'm not the one to ask that of. I think the right people to talk to about that at the right time is the Board of Directors and the PGA TOUR which really is the one who sanctions locations.
1981 Greater Greensboro Open Decanter Taste Test
While visiting the History Walk located at the front entrance of this year's event, one anonymous golf fan asked if the Bourbon contain inside the GGO decanters was "still good".
Local "artifact geeks"Kevin von der Lippe and Randy Harris were not sure and offered the fan a taste. When asked about the flavor, the taste tester replied, "Smooth. It was good." The drink came from an opened 1981 decanter-making the liquid 25 years since it was placed in the bottle at the age of 12.
The anonymous taste tester pointed out that the bourbon does not "age" in the bottle.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
Local "artifact geeks"Kevin von der Lippe and Randy Harris were not sure and offered the fan a taste. When asked about the flavor, the taste tester replied, "Smooth. It was good." The drink came from an opened 1981 decanter-making the liquid 25 years since it was placed in the bottle at the age of 12.
The anonymous taste tester pointed out that the bourbon does not "age" in the bottle.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
Stanley Cup-No Photos Please
The 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes will bring the Stanley Cup Trophy to the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro on Sunday. Oct. 8. The Stanley Cup will be on display from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in the Primland Expo Center.
As part of the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Tour, the Chrysler Classic appearance will be the first Stanley Cup appearance in the Piedmont Triad since the Hurricane players’ names were engraved on the trophy.
The Primland Expo Center is located between the first tee and the ninth green at Forest Oaks Country Club. Stormy, the official Mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes will also be on hand to assist with the Stanley Cup display.
Since cameras and cell phones are not allowed on course property, there will be no opportunity to take pictures with the Stanley Cup.
As part of the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Tour, the Chrysler Classic appearance will be the first Stanley Cup appearance in the Piedmont Triad since the Hurricane players’ names were engraved on the trophy.
The Primland Expo Center is located between the first tee and the ninth green at Forest Oaks Country Club. Stormy, the official Mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes will also be on hand to assist with the Stanley Cup display.
Since cameras and cell phones are not allowed on course property, there will be no opportunity to take pictures with the Stanley Cup.
Thank Don Gray For A Job Well Done
While on their way to the Old Timers' tent on Thursday, the ggoblogger and Kevin von der Lippe were approached by Robert E. Lee. Not the Civil War general, but the vice president of Optima-National Commercial Cleaning Services.
He stopped the two because of the Green Coats they were wearing and wanted to thank them for the great time he had in the Wednesday Pro Am. He had a chance to play with 1985 Greater Greensboro Open Champoin Joey Sindelar. Lee told the ggoblogger that he had been told that he would love playing with Joey by a hundred people and that each person had a different reason why.
After giving von der Lippe and Harris a detailed stroke by stroke account of his round, Robert E. Lee, again that's his real name, told the two that Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Sponsor Sales and Accommodations staffer Don Gray had helped provide a golf cart to a member of his family recovering from Cancer surgery.
The golf cart made it posible for his family to follow his group and enjoy the round with him. As Robert E. Lee's mother always said, "People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do."
He stopped the two because of the Green Coats they were wearing and wanted to thank them for the great time he had in the Wednesday Pro Am. He had a chance to play with 1985 Greater Greensboro Open Champoin Joey Sindelar. Lee told the ggoblogger that he had been told that he would love playing with Joey by a hundred people and that each person had a different reason why.
After giving von der Lippe and Harris a detailed stroke by stroke account of his round, Robert E. Lee, again that's his real name, told the two that Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Sponsor Sales and Accommodations staffer Don Gray had helped provide a golf cart to a member of his family recovering from Cancer surgery.
The golf cart made it posible for his family to follow his group and enjoy the round with him. As Robert E. Lee's mother always said, "People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do."
Pairings Problems Continue
Friday's pairings guide at Chrysler Classic of Greensboro contained another error.This time Davis Love III, spelled David Love III on Wednesday, was spelled correct twice. Somehow the 10th tee times were printed twice, omitting the 1st tee times all together.
In this case the glass is half full. The guide was 50% correct.
In this case the glass is half full. The guide was 50% correct.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Fire at Winn-Dixie (Chrysler Classic of Greensboro VIP Parking Lot)
"An early morning fire damaged an empty Winn-Dixie store in a strip mall in Pleasant Garden.The fire was reported at 6:41 a.m. Thursday off Liberty Road across from the entrance to Forest Oaks, said Guilford County Emergency Services Director Alan Perdue."
The article continues:
"Traffic heading to the nearby Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Tournament at Forest Oaks was not expected to be impacted by the fire.Forest Oaks Hardware, which shares the building on the north side, was not impacted by the fire and are open for business.- Joseph Rodriguez "
The following excerpts were taken from the following link. To read the entire post go to:
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061005/NEWSREC0101/61005010
The article continues:
"Traffic heading to the nearby Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Tournament at Forest Oaks was not expected to be impacted by the fire.Forest Oaks Hardware, which shares the building on the north side, was not impacted by the fire and are open for business.- Joseph Rodriguez "
The following excerpts were taken from the following link. To read the entire post go to:
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061005/NEWSREC0101/61005010
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
History Walk Interview with Kevin von der Lippe-Artifact Geek
ggoblogger: How did you come up with the idea to host a history tent?
Kevin von der Lippe: Well the credit really belongs to Steve Mitchem of Sedgefiled Country Club. He and Mark Brazil were talking about how they can tie the tournament's rich history to its future. Shortly thereafter Mark approached me and asked if Randy Harris and I could put something together.
ggoblogger:Where did you find the items that ended up in the tent?
von der Lippe: The items have been pulled together from a variety of places and people. Many of the items come from the tournament and the Greensboro Jaycees. Some of the items have been donated by individuals who responded to an artifact drive that we did in 2004 in conjunction with the Greensboro Historical Museum. Of course, Sedgefield and many Green Coaters also contributed items. Interestingly, the quest for artifacts dates back to 1995, when the Jaycees were approached by surviving veterans of the USS LST 559, a WWII landing ship that was sponsored by the Greensboro Jaycees. They asked if they could borrow their "battle flag" that they gave the Jaycees in appreciation after the war. That request started the archives project, and we started collecting items from our rich past. By the way, we found the flag at the Greensboro Historical Museum, and the Jaycees hosted the ship's reunion.
ggoblogger: In Jim's recent article for the News & Record, he ran a quote in which you and Harris were refered to as "artifact geeks". Are you and what do you think about plans for a premanent home for these tournament items?
von der Lippe: Steve was quoted as calling us "artifact geeks," and I guess he was trying to convey that we were dedicated to collecting and sharing what we have found. This web blog is a good example. The thought of a permanent place to display the golf memoriabilia is great. There is still a lot of work that has to be done to secure a permanent home, but with the thought of providing a secure location for the artifacts has already generated additional interest in donating items for display.
Kevin von der Lippe: Well the credit really belongs to Steve Mitchem of Sedgefiled Country Club. He and Mark Brazil were talking about how they can tie the tournament's rich history to its future. Shortly thereafter Mark approached me and asked if Randy Harris and I could put something together.
ggoblogger:Where did you find the items that ended up in the tent?
von der Lippe: The items have been pulled together from a variety of places and people. Many of the items come from the tournament and the Greensboro Jaycees. Some of the items have been donated by individuals who responded to an artifact drive that we did in 2004 in conjunction with the Greensboro Historical Museum. Of course, Sedgefield and many Green Coaters also contributed items. Interestingly, the quest for artifacts dates back to 1995, when the Jaycees were approached by surviving veterans of the USS LST 559, a WWII landing ship that was sponsored by the Greensboro Jaycees. They asked if they could borrow their "battle flag" that they gave the Jaycees in appreciation after the war. That request started the archives project, and we started collecting items from our rich past. By the way, we found the flag at the Greensboro Historical Museum, and the Jaycees hosted the ship's reunion.
ggoblogger: In Jim's recent article for the News & Record, he ran a quote in which you and Harris were refered to as "artifact geeks". Are you and what do you think about plans for a premanent home for these tournament items?
von der Lippe: Steve was quoted as calling us "artifact geeks," and I guess he was trying to convey that we were dedicated to collecting and sharing what we have found. This web blog is a good example. The thought of a permanent place to display the golf memoriabilia is great. There is still a lot of work that has to be done to secure a permanent home, but with the thought of providing a secure location for the artifacts has already generated additional interest in donating items for display.
Fair Is Fair
A few weeks ago the ggoblogger posted about a misspelled word on the Jaycee website. So, today, fair is fair. After a long night of reading very small type, this year's pairings guide chairmen Ron Ryman and Randy Harris managed to misspell Davis Love III and instead renamed him David Love III.
For this we are very sorry.
For this we are very sorry.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Schlosser Interviews Artifact Geeks
The following excerpts come from an article entiled "Schlosser: Museum displays golf tourney's past"
"Spectators will get a preview of the museum this week. As they step off shuttle buses at Forest Oaks, they'll encounter a tent filled with memorabilia. Also present will be the Sam Snead Cup, which goes to the winner and honors the man who won here eight times: the first at age 25, the last at 52."
The article continues:
"To Randy and I, this is amazing," said former Jaycee leader Kevin von der Lippe, referring to another former leader, Randy Harris. "We were born in 1966. So much of what happened in this tournament happened before we were born."
"Mitchem credits these two "artifact geeks," as he calls them, for finding the stuff to make the museum possible.Two years ago, von der Lippe and Harris started a push to collect tournament paraphernalia. They knew plenty must exist.
Harris and von der Lippe sponsored a bring-in-your-souvenir day that got results.A woman arrived with what the two Jaycees considered the Holy Grail: a 1938 ticket.A man donated perhaps the only motion pictures of the '38 tournament. The footage includes a skinny Sam Snead putting."
To read the entire article go to:
http://www.newsandrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061002/NEWSREC0101/610020304
"Spectators will get a preview of the museum this week. As they step off shuttle buses at Forest Oaks, they'll encounter a tent filled with memorabilia. Also present will be the Sam Snead Cup, which goes to the winner and honors the man who won here eight times: the first at age 25, the last at 52."
The article continues:
"To Randy and I, this is amazing," said former Jaycee leader Kevin von der Lippe, referring to another former leader, Randy Harris. "We were born in 1966. So much of what happened in this tournament happened before we were born."
"Mitchem credits these two "artifact geeks," as he calls them, for finding the stuff to make the museum possible.Two years ago, von der Lippe and Harris started a push to collect tournament paraphernalia. They knew plenty must exist.
Harris and von der Lippe sponsored a bring-in-your-souvenir day that got results.A woman arrived with what the two Jaycees considered the Holy Grail: a 1938 ticket.A man donated perhaps the only motion pictures of the '38 tournament. The footage includes a skinny Sam Snead putting."
To read the entire article go to:
http://www.newsandrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061002/NEWSREC0101/610020304
Sunday, October 01, 2006
History Walk-Make Sure to Thank Kevin
Kevin von der Lippe took a big fall Saturday morning while he and the ggoblogger were loading a van outside of Sedgefiled Country Club. These past presidents of the Greensboro Jaycees were packing up the historical items, that had been displayed at the Green Coat Reception the night before, when the accident took place.
Von der Lippe was putting a rack on top of the van when he fell-harming his foot. He told the Greater Greensboro Open Blog Sunday that his ankle looks like a grapefruit and that he is still in a lot of pain.
Even with his injury, von der Lippe and Harris were able to complete the History Walk exhibit that opens to the public on 10/02/02. The tent, sponsored by Sedgefield Country Club is located in front of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro's Clothing tent. The tent will remain open all week and is open to the public. Make sure to thank Kevin for "playing with pain" and finishing the display.
Von der Lippe was putting a rack on top of the van when he fell-harming his foot. He told the Greater Greensboro Open Blog Sunday that his ankle looks like a grapefruit and that he is still in a lot of pain.
Even with his injury, von der Lippe and Harris were able to complete the History Walk exhibit that opens to the public on 10/02/02. The tent, sponsored by Sedgefield Country Club is located in front of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro's Clothing tent. The tent will remain open all week and is open to the public. Make sure to thank Kevin for "playing with pain" and finishing the display.
History Walk Preview
Kevin von der Lippe is seen here putting the finishing touches on one of the cases on display at this year's History Walk.
Old School
Mark Brazil went old school for this hat logo. These limited edition hats are available in this year's clothing tent.
2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro Work Days
Volunteers put up the media center signs outside the Irwin Smallwood Media Center.
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