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Steve Hosid Instruction Editor PGA TOUR Partners Magazine SST PURE on Tour August 25, 2008 How much money would you guess the EDS Byron Nelson Classic has made for charity since 1968? The tournament has raised more than $107 million – a PGA Tour record. This year the tournament went over the $6 million mark for the seventh time. Speaking of giving to others, 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson asked me to mention that he will headline an exhibition in Iowa City next month to raise funds for disaster relief across the state. If you’re in the area or want to come and watch, the event will be held Sept. 12 at Finkbine Golf Course at the University of Iowa. Johnson, a Cedar Rapids native and longtime fan of the Hawkeyes, will be joined by fellow tour pros Chris DiMarco and Todd Hamilton. Johnson, DiMarco and Hamilton will face off against three young golfers in a nine-hole event set up like the Ryder Cup. Tickets are $10, and all proceeds will go to disaster relief. I’m a traditionalist so I was sad to see Westchester Country Club not host this year’s Barclay Championship, the first leg of the FedEx playoffs. Sergio Garcia won there twice, but realizes he has to adjust to the new courses in the rotation. "Those things happen," Garcia said. "I'm sure we'll be back there soon. This is also a good course. Obviously I've done well there, but I've just got to move on." While Ridgewood is only slated to host this year's Barclays, and Westchester is slated to host the tournament at least one more time before 2012, many players said they had quickly grown fond of this A.W. Tillinghast design they were seeing for the first time this week. "I like Westchester. I think it's a great golf course," Phil Mickelson said."I do feel as though Ridgewood is a step up in quality. I've always loved going to Westchester, but this course really has a major-championship feel." The odds point to Padraig Harrington to be the player of the year. Some of the media types were trying to make a case for Tiger Woods with his four victories in 2008. The players have pretty much made up their minds though. "Padraig Harrington," Carl Petterson said. "He's won two majors this year. Tiger's won one. I know the one Tiger won was pretty unbelievable, but to win more than one major in a year, I don't know how many times that's happened. I would vote for Padraig." Next summer, the Barclays tournament will move to water’s edge, at Liberty National in Jersey City, a links-style course reminiscent of the British Isles, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. With camera angles, 4,000 feet on the water and the Statue of Liberty very much a part of the landscape, it will look more like New
York to the rest of the country when it’s on television.
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