Wyndham sees chance for spring date

The dominos are starting to fall for the Wyndham Championship to reclaim a spring date.

Last week's announcement that the PGA Championship will be at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte in 2017 will bring changes to the PGA Tour schedule in a few years.

The Wells Fargo Championship (formerly the Wachovia Championship) is under contract with the PGA Tour until 2014. Johnny Harris, the club president at Quail Hollow, has indicated that after the contract ends, his focus will be on preparing for the 2017 PGA.

That will mean reconstructing the greens to install a better brand of bent-grass greens to handle the August heat during the PGA. That could keep Quail Hollow closed for quite some time after the 2014 Wells Fargo and during the three-year run-up to the PGA.

Mark Brazil, the tournament director of the Wyndham, was on vacation last week in Bermuda but said he did know about the PGA's 2017 date in Charlotte. He's obviously very interested in what happens.

"The question in 2014 and beyond is what will become of the Wells Fargo Championship, and my gut feeling is they will try to keep the tournament and that date in Charlotte," Brazil said. "It's a strong tournament, and I just don't think it will go away."

But if it does, there will be a May opening on the PGA Tour schedule.

And the Wyndham would fit nicely into that slot.

Brazil and Bobby Long, the chairman of the foundation board of the Wyndham, have said in the past that they would definitely consider a spring date if the tour has one available.

But Brazil also said that the Wyndham wouldn't be the only tournament that would consider a move to the spring.

"If for some reason the Wells Fargo Championship does end in 2014, there's no doubt a lot of other PGA Tour tournaments will be vying for that spot," Brazil said.

There is always speculation about future PGA Tour schedules, but in 2011 at least, the Wyndham Championship will again be in August, the week after the PGA Championship. Sedgefield Country Club would be a much better test in the spring, because the bent-grass greens aren't as stressed then as they are in the summer.

Joe Ogilvie, a PGA Tour veteran and a former Duke golfer, said that Sedgefield would be at its best in April or May.

"I kind of equate it to going to see Michael Jordan when he had a sprained ankle, you aren't seeing his greatness," Ogilvie said. "That's kind of like Sedgefield in August, because you can't get the greens at their best because of the weather."

Grisette makes team

Uly Grisette of Clemmons has been named to the USGA men's state team for North Carolina and will compete later this month at the Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif., in the biannual national championships.

The competition started in 1995, and each state plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are invited to send three amateurs to play. College players are not eligible because of NCAA rules.

Also selected for the N.C. team were Paul Simson of Raleigh and Scott Harvey of Greensboro.

The members of the South Carolina team are Steve Liebler, Brent Roof and Todd White.

Around the green

The Wake Forest golf team will begin its season Friday at the Carpet Capital in Rocky Face, Ga. Coach Jerry Haas lost his top player from last season, Brendan Gielow, to graduation, but veterans Lee Bedford, Evan Beck and Daniel Meggs are back. Haas said he also expects sophomore Charlie Harrison and freshman John Varol to make impacts. "I call it a season of ‘ifs,'" Haas said. "If Lee keeps progressing and Evan plays like I know he can and Charlie believes in himself, we could surprise a lot of people."…

Three locals are among the top 15 in the latest Tarheel Youth Golf Association girls rankings by the Carolinas Golf Association. Kristi Ingram of Winston-Salem is eighth, Victoria Allred of Pfafftown is 10th, and Hannah Craver of Winston-Salem is 14th….

Davis Love III, who was born in Charlotte and starred at North Carolina, said that he was excited to hear that the PGA Championship will be at Quail Hollow Club in 2017. "I could not be happier for Quail Hollow and the city of Charlotte to be picked to hold the PGA Championship," said Love, who won the 1997 PGA. "Johnny Harris has done so many great things for the game of golf, so it's only fitting for him to bring a major to the area."…

In the October issue of Golf Digest, Jaime Diaz writes about the new appreciation being shown for the career of Jack Nicklaus and his 18 titles in majors. Nicklaus said he never had a goal to win a certain number of majors. "When you don't have goals,' Nicklaus said, "it makes it pretty difficult. I think that's why Tiger (Woods, who has won 14 majors) will still break my record. His goals are to play until he breaks my record. I don't expect him to play a whole lot beyond that."

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