Harrison Michew with his mentor Arnold Palmer

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA — With an eye toward transforming the area’s only municipal golf course into a more profitable operation, the City of Pensacola and the Parks and Recreation Department invested $750,000 on what many would call a long overdue, “extreme makeover” to Osceola Municipal Golf Course.

Its new marketing slogan is: “Come Play Osceola Again For The First Time.”

The First Tee facility now includes a full-service, 70-person practice facility — complete with a massive, new putting and pitching green, and separate sand bunker — while golfers on the course will enjoy reconstructed green complexes with the finest putting surface available, concrete cart paths, more bunkers around the golf course and more trees.

Renowned architect Harrison Minchew, a long-time Arnold Palmer protégé, oversaw the six-month project with Lepanto Golf Construction out of Pomona Park, Fla.

Minchew and Lepanto constructed four new holes at Osceola, including a trio of new par-3s. The course remains approximately the same length — slightly more than 6,400 yards from the back tee boxes — but the former par-72 will reopen as a par-70. In addition, the new tee areas are squared and significantly larger, with separate tees for seniors and ladies, along with junior tee markers.

A grand re-opening event took place in October during the annual Mayor’s Cup Tournament, before which former U.S. Open champ Jerry Pate, a native of Pensacola, conducted a golf clinic at the practice facility. Other local touring professionals with ties to Osceola include Joe Durant, Heath Slocum, and Boo Weekley.

“I grew up playing Osceola,” said Durant. “I’ve probably played it a 1,000 times. It is very exciting to see the improvements. The new driving range and practice facility are great. The added length with the new tees, new bunkers, several new holes, and character designed into the greens will make the golf course enjoyable to all types of players.”

The course originally scheduled to open around the first of September but was postponed by a tropical storm — which actually proved to be a blessing as the new turf including the Mini Verde Bermuda grass greens is in very good condition.

The state-of-the-art practice area for the First Tee facility is located adjacent to the No. 1 tee, formerly No. 17, in front of the clubhouse. The former 17th hole at Osceola will be the new No. 1 hole. In addition, the Osceola clubhouse has also been refreshed with new carpeting, flat-screen TVs and a new restaurant.

It was the biggest reshaping effort since Osceola opened in 1926. Local reports say $500,000 was provided by local option sales tax money, while remainder will be paid back from course revenue in a five-year period.

“This place is near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts,” said Minchew. “The whole golf course will have a new look. The greens were nondescript now they are strategically re-contoured and much more playable the turf quality is going to be completely different. Now even the best golfers will have an enjoyable challenge from the new back tees. Everyone is very excited about it.”

Minchew said that along with expanding the First Tee program and other youth-teaching programs, the practice area will enable golfers to visit Osceola simply to hit a bucket of balls, practice some putting, have a sandwich and go home. This is the second First Tee facility Minchew has designed, the first one back in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

“It’s really neat to see all the kids out there practicing, even when the golf course was closed,” said Minchew.

The other signature element of the Osceola project is its green complexes. The grass on the greens is now MiniVerde Bermuda, the same putting surface on the revered putting surfaces at places like the Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando and the Tournament Players Club Stadium Course at Sawgrass.

“The greens now will have as good of turf grass as you will find anywhere and they will be able to maintain the greens at a much higher level now,” says Minchew.

In addition, the asphalt cart paths that were originally constructed in 1978 have been replaced with white, concrete cart paths that have curbs and are routed with turnaround positions on certain holes. “It adds a cleaner look,” said Minchew.

Adrian Stills grew up playing at the course, and then later returned after a pro career to become the facility’s general manager. Eddie Daigle is Osceola’s talented course superintendent.

William Earl “Wild Bill” Mehlhorn — a native Texan who won more than 47 tournaments in his 10-year playing career and competed on the first Ryder Cup team in 1927, as well as the inaugural Master’s tournament — originally designed Osceola in 1926. Widely recognized at the time for the cowboy hat he wore on the golf course, Mehlhorn was a gallery favorite due to his uncanny accuracy combined with the fact that he was the longest hitter of his day — a fantastic shot maker and great teacher.

Despite historic wildfires in nearby Bastrop, TX, Austin's Wolfdancer Golf Club has thrived.

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Despite the record-breaking heat, historic drought and wildfires that severely impacted Bastrop, Texas a dozen miles to the east, the Wolfdancer Golf Club at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa proudly sports its best-ever playing conditions since it first emerged onto the Austin golf scene five years ago.

In fact, the resort’s picturesque setting played a major role in not only allowing the golf course to survive the summer elements, but thrive. Situated along the banks of the Lower Colorado River immediately adjacent to an 1,100-acre nature preserve caled McKinney Roughs Nature Park, Wolfdancer recently received the prestigious Audubon Sanctuary Certification and offers golfers an “Audubon Experience” while playing.

“Our location has played a very large part in our conditioning,” said Wolfdancer GC Director of Golf Eric Claxton. “Being located on the Colorado River and having access to water is a tremendous advantage. In addition, Wolfdancer has followed the LCRA’s Drought Contingency Plan, but with smarter utilization of our irrigation system we have been able to achieve water reduction and optimum playing conditions.”

Designed by Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates, the 7,205-yard, par-72 Wolfdancer was named after the Native American Tonkawa, who hunted and fished along the Colorado River long before Texas was a republic. Working with the naturally rich heritage of the land, Hills designed a layout that rambles over a dramatic 300-acre stretch of terrain dotted with oak, cedar elm and pecan trees and cut by the Colorado River, which dramatically frames the right side of the layout’s memorable finishing holes.

Claxton also credits the premium playing conditions at Wolfdancer to strict adherence to the club’s extensive agronomic plan, as well as having a great relationship with the club’s Golf Course Superintendent John Crall. “We have weekly drive-arounds and take a team approach to the conditioning of the golf course,” said Claxton. “Also, being 5 years old now the course has had an opportunity to mature and come into its own.”

Wolfdancer Golf Club employs a sophisticated irrigation system with more than 3,000 irrigation heads covering 110 acres. A central computer that controls this entire system is located in the Golf Course Superintendent’s office. As a result, Crall and his staff are able to identify individual heads and increase or decrease the run time depending upon the conditions — allowing the club to save a tremendous amount of water by identifying “Hot Spots” and only increasing the head(s) that affect that area instead of the entire fairway or hole.

“It takes time to fully understand the golf course and this system,” said Crall. “Being 5 years old now, we have been able to maximize the efficiency of golf course irrigation. “

Claxton said the fall season generally provides the best playing conditions at Wolfdancer GC, and with the course maturing over the past five years, the fall of 2011 has produced the finest playing conditions overall since the golf course opened in 2006.

“Golfers should come play Wolfdancer Golf Club right now to take full advantage of the optimum playing conditions,” Claxton said. “Our full golf experience is second to none with unparalleled service from the Golf Staff and playing a championship golf course during its prime. The summer heat is over and the temperatures are great to enjoy a great round of golf with friends and/or family.”

Harrison Minchew with his golf course design mentor Arnold Palmer.

DAVIE, FLORIDA (November 2011) — Out of commission since December 2008 as part of an Interstate 595 expansion, the former Arrowhead Golf and Country Club near Ft. Lauderdale has reopened following a complete redesign by golf course architect Harrison Minchew. The course’s new owner, The Town of Davie, announced the course will now be called Davie Golf and Country Club.

The 10.5-mile, I-595 corridor in the highly urbanized and congested Broward County is being reconstructed as part of one of the state’s first ever public-private partnerships, with three tolled reversible express lanes in the median and additional auxiliary lanes.

To minimize right-of-way acquisition and avoid impacts for nearby residents and businesses throughout the $1.2 billion project, its engineers, Reynolds Smith and Hill (RS&H), designed shared-use drainage facilities by partnering with three privately owned golf courses adjacent to the corridor: Lago Mar Country Club, Pine Island Ridge Country Club and the former Arrowhead — now Davie Golf and Country Club.

The maximum storm water stages identified in existing condition calculations provided the baseline for the proposed conditions, which involved expanding the golf course ponds and modifying storm water control structures to provide the required treatment volume and limit the discharge rates to those of the existing conditions.

The Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) then commissioned the Ponte Vedra-based architect Minchew to direct an approximately $4.75 million redesign of the nearly 40-year-old course for its reopening.

“The use of these golf courses to provide storm water retention and filtration system for I-595 and reduce costs for the FDOT is a perfect example of the golf industry’s promotion of ‘The Value of A Golf Course,’” said Minchew. “The initiative describes the three key beneficial aspects provided by golf courses — economic, environmental and social. The FDOT hit a home run in this creative solution, which saved the state of Florida $60 million dollars, protected the environment and enhanced the strong golf community in southeast Florida.”

At Davie Golf and Country Club, Minchew and RS&H began design and permitting in October 2009, and the I-595 project required that the lake system be constructed by November 30, 2010 — a very aggressive schedule that had to be followed because the company who owned and constructed the I-595 corridor had an agreement with the FDOT that all retention lakes had to be on line by that date, otherwise they could receive millions of dollars in liquidated damages.

Once Minchew’s work began, the entire golf course from property line to property line was totally rebuilt, with several holes rerouted and more than 900 trees, thousands of aquatic and xeroscape plantings installed — along with new greens, bunkers, cart paths, irrigation system and new grass. The new course now has four sets of tees playing from 6,398 to 4,900 yards with a par of 70. There is also a lighted driving range.

In Minchew, the FDOT and RS&H found the ideal golf course architect for the complex Davie Golf and Country Club job. During 27 years with Arnold Palmer from the early 1980s into the 2000s, Minchew was the lead golf course architect intricately involved in planning, permitting, designing and inspecting construction of 75 innovative golf courses and developments internationally.

A member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) for 28 years, Minchew has experienced design trends over four decades of golf courses and master-planned communities and is well versed in delivering economically viable projects. He has worked with the very best master planners, civil engineers and environmental scientists, and collaborated and assisted these design disciplines in creating practical solutions to storm water drainage, mass earth moving and environmental issues in large developments.

The innovative shared-use drainage system developed by RS&H and the Florida DOT presents a win-win-win scenario for the traveling public, community and environment. Among the awards and recognitions already captured for the I-595 Shared Use Drainage Project are:

• 2010 ACEC Engineering Excellence Award National Finalist Recipient for Water Resources Category.

• 2010 FICE Engineering Excellence Award Grand Award Recipient for Water Resources Category.

• Southeast Construction’s Best of 2010 – Award of Excellence in Civil/Public Works.

• Project of the Year from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Broward Branch (2010).

• Storm Water Solutions Top Projects in 2010.

At 50 courses around the country, more than 4,000 GOLF 9/12 patrons will tee off simultaneously at 2 PM EST in what can eventually become the largest multi-venue golf event in the world. Embracing the power of technology, players will be connected via live mobile scoring and a real-time leaderboard. Players will be able to check the mobile leaderboard as they play, and heckle and challenge friends wherever they are playing in a matter of seconds, using a custom GOLF 9/12 mobile phone application.

GOLF 9/12 is a grassroots, non-profit initiative founded by South African immigrants Rich Davies and Johan Immelman along with Col. Ray Horoho (Ret.), who worked in the Pentagon with his wife Maj. General Patty Horoho on the day of the attack. Proceeds from funds raised from optional after-play unity gatherings will be used to build relationships by supporting people and charitable organizations, upholding the spirit of freedom, especially in places where hopelessness breeds. GOLF 9/12 will support The Pentagon Memorial Fund, The 9-11 Memorial, Flight 93 Memorial, local First Responders, Armed Forces Charities and Friends of Freedom Charities, including global outreach projects and educational programs throughout the world.

“For those of us who have lived abroad and chosen to live in this great nation, the reason we chose to live here has never been more evident than in the days that followed the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history 10 years ago,” said Davies, chairman and co-founder of this initiative. “GOLF 9/12 and the Unity Dinners that follow will serve to remind us of the inspirational response to the tragedy of 9/11 and prompt us to be engaged in upholding the spirit of freedom.”

Among today’s signature events:

• 2012 Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love III and 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover will be participating at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., along with PGA TOUR winner Brian Bateman, Nationwide Tour player Michael Sims and recent Georgia All-Americans Brian Harman and Hudson Swafford.
• 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman will be in attendance at the Country Club of Columbus in Columbus, Ga., where a portion of one of the World Trade Towers will be on site for photo opportunities.
• Members of the Green Bay Packers staff will be participating at Thornberry Golf Course in Oneida, Wisc.
• Many elected officials in Maine will be playing golf and also participating in a unity event at Sable Oaks Golf Club in South Portland, Maine, where “America’s Beloved Tenor” Daniel Rodriguez will perform the National Anthem and “God Bless America.”
• Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. — which proudly served as a military golf course for nearly four decades — will have a “Color Guard,” a ceremonial start with local wounded veterans and police/firefighter escort of the golf carts to the various starting holes.

“Champions for Freedom” that have already united through the vision of GOLF 9/12 include: Davis Love III, Lucas Glover, Trevor Immelman, Larry Mize, David Frost, Dan Marino, Coach Lou Holtz, Steve Beuerlein, Wesley Walls, Jim Stuckey, Greg Buttle, Johnny Damon, Dan Jansen, Karen Palacios Jansen, Mike Eruzione, David Leadbetter, D.A. Points, Gary Woodland, Ty Tryon, Carol Mann, Gary Williams, Mark Immelman, Kevin W. McCarthy, retired General Buck Kernan and retired Marine Corps Lance Corporal Tim Lang, a wounded warrior and avid amputee golfer.

Pavilion Development Company, TBC Corporation and its affiliate, Tire Kingdom, provided the funding to establish GOLF 9/12.

Bridgestone Golf and the newest member of its TOUR team Davis Love III teamed up for a season-long effort to benefit GOLF 9/12. Bridgestone Golf contributes $100 to GOLF 9/12 for every birdie that Love cards from the start of the 2011 PGA Tour season through September 11.

The Trevor Immelman Foundation participates in a “GOLF 9/12 Fairways for Freedom” promotion, with $10 being donated for every fairway he hits during the PGA TOUR season. Corporations and fans are able to join in on this promotion by pledging matching amounts.

Immelman quotes Nelson Mandela who once said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. This is the hope behind GOLF 9/12, to help us remember the unity we felt the day after the 9/11 tragedy,” says Immelman. “GOLF 9/12 provides a way for us to unite again, and personally engage in honoring, upholding, and celebrating the freedom we are blessed to enjoy.”

For the second consecutive weekend in the state’s Triad region a pair of native Tar Heel sons returned home to capture historic professional victories.

Last week it was up-and-coming golf sensation Webb Simpson — Raleigh native, Charlotte resident, Wake Forest grad — finally breaking through and winning his first PGA TOUR event, the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club.

This week it was flamethrower John Isner, another Gate City native who “looked homeward” as Wolfe might write and helped christen the inaugural Winston-Salem Open on the Wake Forest University Tennis Center’s new stadium center court Saturday with a come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Julien Benneteau.

With his mother, brother, and numerous other family members and friends on hand in Winston-Salem, the 6-9 Isner unleashed 19 aces — the hottest checking in at a toasty 139 mph — to collect his second title of the year.

“I don’t know if this tournament could have asked for a better inaugural champion than one of its own,” said respected tennis commentator Mary Carrillo, calling the finals for CBS from New York rather than Winston-Salem due to Hurricane Irene, which as Carrillo spoke was battering the rest of the state east of the Triad.

Carrillo’s was a sentiment that had been widely expressed throughout Simpson’s popular win a week ago at Sedgefield. Indeed, when the trophy presenter said Isner had won the inaugural event in his hometown, the Greensboro Page High School and University of Georgia star did not correct him on the slight misspeak.

“It’s the Triad. It’s all the same,” said Isner with a laugh. “These fans were incredible. I never thought there would be a tournament in my hometown, and now that there is, of course, I was always going to come here to play, but I didn’t know how well I would do. Now to come here and win — I’m happy that it went so well. These fans were fantastic.”

The iron man, Benneteau, ranked 113th, was playing in his ninth match in eight days, including a wild semifinal win over 10th-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase 3-6 7-6 7-6, during which Benneteau saved a pair of match points in a final-set tiebreak he clinched 8-6 — less than 24 hours before he played the fifth tournament final of his career.

The 29-year-old Frenchman won three qualifying matches to make the 32-player main draw before knocking off a trio of seeded players en route to the championship.

Meanwhile, showing no signs of fatigue despite playing his fourth tournament in a row Isner entered the Winston-Salem Open seeded fourth and survived Friday’s taut, seesaw 7-6 (7), 6-4 upset of top-seeded Andy Roddick for a spot in Saturday’s center court championship title tilt. It was Isner’s second win in five matches against the 2003 U.S. Open champion.

In addition, Saturday’s championship represented the third ATP World Tour title overall in eight finals appearances for the 28th-ranked Isner, who will face Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the opening round of the U.S. Open next week.

“I want to go up to New York [for the U.S. Open] with some momentum,” said Isner, “and that’s what I have.”

Chances are, Webb Simpson is going to win many times on the PGA Tour.

I say this because the last thing anyone would want to do is put any extra pressure on Simpson as he enters today’s final round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club with a two-shot lead over a host of pursuers including a couple of other sentimental faves: 2008 Wyndham champ Carl Pettersson, a Swede who as a youth moved to Greensboro, where he attended Grimsley High School, before making his name as a college player at N.C. State; former Golf Channel “Big Break” star Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey; and a pair of good-natured South African former U.S. Open champs, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Not to mention, Simpson has been close before. Were it not for a third-round 71 here last year, he might be playing today in defense of a Wyndham title. Just months ago, in early May, Simpson likely would have captured the New Orleans Zurich Classic had it not been for a stroke penalty incurred when his ball wiggled ever-so slightly on the 15th green, and Simpson eventually lost to Bubba Watson in a Monday playoff.

And hey, hasn’t tournament director Mark Brazil — who has watched Simpson since he was a kid playing AJGA events around the state — been telling anyone who would listen for weeks that Simpson was going to win this year’s Wyndham?

So, having said all that, it is important to note that if it doesn’t happen this afternoon at Sedgefield, it’s going to happen — probably sooner than later.

But there is no doubt that the most appropriate place for Simpson to win his first PGA TOUR event would be right here in Greensboro.

Not only was Simpson born and bred just over an hour drive east from here, in Raleigh, where he honed his game as a young man under the tutelage of Ted Kiegiel along the narrow, sculpted fairways of the Capital City’s venerable, inside-the-beltline enclave, Carolina Country Club, but Simpson’s father, Sam, is a well-known name in Triangle real estate circles and close personal friends with Wyndham Championship Tournament Chairman Bobby Long — and the Simpson family tree branches broadly throughout both the Triangle and Triad.

During his freshman and senior campaigns at Raleigh’s Broughton High School, Simpson led his team to the state high school 4-A championship. When it came time to pick a college, Simpson didn’t go far, leapfrogging UNC-CH, where his sisters went, and heading to Winston-Salem, where he put four years of his life and his collegiate golf career in the hands of Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas, who helped steer his star recruit to ACC Freshman of the Year honors and later, when Simpson was a senior, first-team All-American selection.

Before he turned professional, Simpson — who Haas describes as a better person then he is a player — competed on the 2007 Walker Cup team that traveled across the pond to beat Great Britain and Ireland at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.

To button up all the local ties,  in February 2010 Simpson married the former Dowd Keith, a Charlotte Latin grad and fellow Demon Deacon, who is now an actress — and the two have a 6-month-old son, James.

So yes, a victory for Webb Simpson this afternoon at Sedgefield would be wildly popular around the state.

Yet, the man himself — who sits 12th in the FedExCup standings and is the highest-ranked player in the Wyndham field without a 2011 PGA TOUR victory — swears he won’t be feeling the heat today.

“You know what, I honestly don’t put any pressure on myself,” said Simpson, who turned 26 two weeks ago. “I know the pressure will come, but I don’t add to the pressure. I am lucky to do what I do, play golf for a living. The way I look at it, if God wants me to win, then I will. If not, you know, I’ll have plenty more opportunities. But I’m just going to rely on my faith and if it’s my time, great, we’re going to go out there and win my 10 shots. If we come up short, then it’s just the way it’s going to happen.”

Following a pair of early bogeys and an hour-plus weather delay Saturday afternoon at Sedgefield, Simpson caught fire and grabbed the 54-hole lead with a birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie streak over Nos. 13-17 — narrowly missing a final birdie when his bending, downhill 18-footer on Sedgefield’s closing hole stayed just shy of the cup.

His 6-under-par stretch is tied for the second-best birdie-eagle streak of 2011, and Simpson’s round of 64 Saturday was one off his career low of 63 posted in the final round of the 2010 Wyndham Championship. “Probably one of my top birdie-eagle streaks that I’ve had, and it came at a better time than any other streak I’ve had, just because we’re not getting anything going all day and everybody else is taking it low,” Simpson said. “To finish the round that way was great. I’d much rather finish the round that way than start that way. If at all possible, we’ll start that way (Sunday).”

With a win today, the 54-hole leader Simpson would not only become the 12th first-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2011, he also would move to No. 3 in the FedExCup standings. Players inside the FedExCup top five heading into the fourth and final playoff event control their own FedExCup destiny; any player inside the top five who wins the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola will win the FedExCup and the $10 million first-place prize.

And what would Sunday’s final round be without a little ACC competition at Sedgefield, where the league was founded in 1953? Simpson is trying to become the seventh different winner of the Wyndham Championship from an ACC school — the last being N.C. State’s Pettersson in 2008.

“I don’t put any pressure on myself to be a superstar, anybody else,” Simpson said. “I look at it as more of this is what I do, how can I get better, how can I improve, what’s going to make me be out on Tour and be one of the best players in the world for 15 years? I kind of keep it day by day and, you know, the only thing I’m worried about right now is the first tee shot Sunday. That’s kind of the way I look at it.”

McGirt also knew there was a whole lot more riding on his final five holes than just making the cut. The ruddy, 32-year-old Wofford College grad entered the week as one of the Wyndham’s “Bubble Boys” at No. 127 in the FedEx Cup point standings, with only the top 125 in points advancing to the year-end FedEx Cup playoffs.

McGirt trailed the coveted 125th spot — currently occupied by a tie between Ernie Els and Camilo Villegas — by just two points, so he knew that missing the cut this week would do him no favors.

In addition, a berth in at least the first playoff event would allow McGirt a chance to pad his current earnings for the year — $329,479, which ranks 155th — as he also needs at Top-125 finish in year-end earnings to regain full PGA Tour status. If McGirt misses the playoffs, his next PGA start would come Sept. 29 at the onset of the season-ending four-event fall series.

Finally, the recent past didn’t necessarily enhance McGirt’s thought process, considering he had missed the cut at his last two events after making four straight.

So standing on Sedgefield’s fifth tee box Friday, with all that swirling around in his head, what did McGirt proceed to do? Only make birdies on four of his final five holes for a 6-under 64, propelling himself to 7-under for the championship and a tie for 10th place going into today’s third round.

“I went from biting my nails to playing my way back into the tournament real quick,” said McGirt. “You can’t win the FedEx Cup sitting at home next week.”

Of course, there are plenty of better-known names than William McGirt positioned just ahead and behind him on the playoff bubble. McGirt is tied with a guy named Tiger Woods at 318 points, and likely needs to finish at least in the top-50 this week to sneak into one of the final places. Also lurking not far off the playoff cutoff are former major champions Padraig Harrington (130th), Ben Curtis (131st) and Justin Leonard (147th), while world No. 17 Paul Casey is still alive at 147th.

While Woods elected to take the week off, all are the others were in this week’s field, and only Curtis failed to make Friday’s cut. “I figure if I finish in the Top 25 this week I should make it in the playoffs for sure,” said McGirt, “but there are so many scenarios.”

It’s been an otherwise frustrating rookie season for McGirt, who estimates that he has only spent 13 nights at his Spartanburg, S.C., home this week, and has missed six cuts this year by a single shot. “It’s been one of those crazy years where I played a lot better than I scored every week,” he said. “Just seems like every round has been the highest it could possibly have been.”

When he is at home, McGirt practices at his home club, Musgrove Mill, which like Sedgefield CC is owned by McConnell Golf. He thinks Sedgefield’s new owners have contributed considerably to the enthusiastic tournament vibe among his fellow contestants.

“I’ve always loved this golf course,” McGirt said of Sedgefield. “I’m a huge fan of Donald Ross courses and I think [architect] Kris Spence did a great job maintaining the integrity of what Ross did here.

“I think what McConnell Golf has done for all of the clubs that they’ve bought is phenomenal. They’ve improved the clubs and improved the golf courses, yet kept it affordable for the members. I think they really turned all the clubs around, and I think all the members are really happy. And these clubs are the best in the Carolinas.”

Despite the high praise for Sedgefield, when McGirt visits Greensboro he typically plays at another McConnell Golf property, cross-town Cardinal Golf and Country Club — a highly regarded Pete Dye design, on which McGirt won the prestigious Cardinal Amateur in 2003.

“Every time I come back to Greensboro I go play The Cardinal,” he said. “I love that place. I think it is one of Pete Dye’s best. I think when he renovated it [in 2007], he made it even better — and it was already really, really good.”

But Sedgefield CC and the Wyndham Championship are McGirt’s focus this week.

That, and what might come along with a good finish.

“Making the FedEx Cup would be huge,” McGirt said, “in more ways than one.”

A major factor behind all the magazine launch excitement is that “O.Henry” is being edited by New York Times bestselling author James S. “Jim” Dodson, widely considered one of the great literary figures alive today and a man who throughout the years has spent more than his fair share of time in media centers covering golf tournaments around the world.

One of the Gate City’s favorite sons, Dodson grew up in Greensboro and his family roots in the community date back generations. Dodson has authored numerous bestselling books including Final Rounds, Faithful Travelers, Beautiful Madness, A Golfer’s Life (with Arnold Palmer) and Ben Hogan: An American Life. In 2009, Dodson’s book A Son of The Game was selected “Golf Book of the Year,” and in 2011 he was presented the prestigious Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects for his literary contributions to the game.

Six years ago, Dodson returned to the Tar Heel state, where he has worked as the writer in residence and Sunday essayist for The (Southern Pines) Pilot newspaper — which was named the best community newspaper in the nation in 2002 and 2007 — and editor of PineStraw magazine, which recently won four awards from the Southern Magazine Association.

At first glance, Dodson’s latest publication, with its subject matter entirely Greensboro related, appears different from other high-end lifestyle publications. He promises “O.Henry” will be an arts and culture literary experience as unique and distinctive as the Gate City itself.

As for how the magazine got its name, Dodson recalled his junior year English class at Grimsley High School in 1970, when the mid-term assignment was to write a short story for consideration in the school’s annual writing contest — named for Greensboro’s most celebrated literary son, William Sidney Porter — aptly called the O.Henry Award.

For his contribution, Dodson wrote about his late grandfather, a rural polymath named Walter who helped wire the Jefferson Standard Building in 1922. To Dodson’s great surprise, his story won the O.Henry Award.

Given annually since 1923 by the O.Henry Study Club, the prize helped propel Dodson into a career in journalism that began in 1976 at the Greensboro New & Record. He went on to serve as senior writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday Magazine, Yankee Magazine, and later as longtime contributing editor of GOLF Magazine, collecting numerous national magazine awards along the way.

“William Sydney Porter left Greensboro at age 19 to make his fortune, going on to become one of the most celebrated writers of the Gilded Age, writing under the pen name ‘O.Henry,’” Dodson said. “He once told an interviewer that many of his life’s fondest memories and greatest influences came from his childhood in Greensboro.

“I think Greensboro is perhaps the most unique and culturally diverse city in North Carolina. So we are giving the city a magazine of uncommon literary and artistic vision that explores everything from the thriving arts community to our passions for homes and gardens.”

“O.Henry” readers will learn about remarkable people who have shaped Greensboro’s past and others who are busy creating its exciting future, while also celebrating the best of food and wine, and indulging their love of the outdoors. Moreover, every issue of “O.Henry” will present outstanding short fiction and poetry, essays and features that touch the heart and stir the soul.

“That’s because our writers are among the best you’ll find anywhere — award-winning storytellers whose names you already know, old friends with deep roots planted here,” Dodson said. “With every issue, our compelling design and photography will remind you why you’re proud to call Greensboro home.”

“O.Henry” features six award-winning writers in its inaugural, August-September issue, including a cover story, written by Dodson, about another bestselling author, Greensboro resident John Hart, including an except from Hart’s new thriller, Iron House.

In addition, the premier issue of “O.Henry” includes a marvelous piece about the real O.Henry by contributing editor Jim Schlosser, the legendary News & Record writer and one of the most honored newsmen in North Carolina history — another native son who was in the first graduating class at Page High and whose work has earned numerous awards from the North Carolina Press Association, along with the Edward R. Murrow Award in 1984 for outstanding reporting.

Schlosser is on hand at Sedgefield this week covering the Wyndham Championship for The Pilot.

In addition, “O.Henry” contributing editor Maria Johnson — another nationally recognized News & Record alum — writes about O.Henry’s last relative in a wonderful column called “Life’s Funny.” Jane Borden, a genuine rising literary star whose latest collection of humorous essays has been on several bestseller lists, writes a very funny column about her unexpected Greensboro society wedding.

There is an article about the home built by Spencer Love, founder of Burlington Industries, titled “The House that Love Built” and written by Deborah Solomon, a Missouri Penn Ward winner. There is the aforementioned piece on the former Greater Greensboro Open and its evolution into the Wyndham Championship by Lee Pace, one of the state’s top golf writers.

David Bailey — the funniest and best food writer in the South — takes on BLTs and writes about local beer, while garden writer Lee Rogers tells the tale of Bill Craft, Greensboro’s “Johnny Appleseed” and the man responsible for planting hundreds of beautiful trees around the city. Metal Worker Jim Galucci is O.Henry’s first featured artist; among other things, he made the amazing gates at the Grasshoppers ballpark in Greensboro.

The magazine’s captivating design is the handiwork of PineStraw’s national-award-winning Creative Director Andie Rose, who studied at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “We also have outstanding columnists on spirits, books, wine, and the outdoors, all connected to Greensboro,” said Dodson. “It’s an all-star lineup, I must say, a great opening issue.”

In order to reach the most discerning and responsive readers, O.Henry will be distributed without charge through selected outlets — places where folks who love the arts and care about the diverse cultural life of this city like to shop and congregate.

The publisher’s logic is simple. “At a time when everyone from the taxman to the taxi driver is digging deeper into their pockets, we’ve found that our loyal readers of PineStraw Magazine — our sister publication in the Pinehurst area — view the magazine as a monthly gift, an enriching experience provided compliments of our outstanding advertisers,” said “O.Henry” publisher David Woronoff, who is the immediate past president of the North Carolina Press Association. “Readers show their appreciation by enthusiastically patronizing the folks who make the magazine possible.”

Said Dodson: “As a son of Greensboro who has traveled far and wide to learn my craft in writing and magazines, permit me to say I think O.Henry himself would be deeply pleased to see the magazine we’ll be unveiling in his name this summer. We hope our readers will soon share our excitement.”

Battling a bit of shaky nerves at the start of his 8:50 tee time Thursday morning, Loftsson double-bogeyed his first hole of the day, Sedgefield’s par-4 10th, but played the remaining 17 holes in 4 under par to finish the day with a 2-under 68.

Loftsson is playing the Wyndham on a McConnell Golf sponsor’s exemption as the winner of last weekend’s Cardinal Amateur at Greensboro’s Cardinal Country Club. Both Sedgefield CC and The Cardinal are owned by Raleigh-based McConnell Golf. The Cardinal Amateur is not only one of the most coveted amateur events in the country — with a storied history of matching some of the world’s top players in a competitive but fun environment — but also has been a leader in community charity dating back to 1983, when its first educational scholarship was announced.

Among the current TOUR members who have recorded Top-10 finishes at The Cardinal are Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, Carl Pettersson, Lucas Glover, Tim Clark and David Duval.

“I was lucky enough to get an invitation to [The Cardinal Amateur],” said Loftsson. “The field was pretty strong, in my opinion, it was a lot of great amateur guys out there, and the course, magnificent course.”

Loftsson said golf is the second-most popular sport in Iceland behind soccer — yet until this week he had never attended a PGA TOUR or European Tour event. There are about 70 golf courses in his country, mostly links style, but the golf season lasts no more than five months per year. “It’s a good feeling being the first Icelandic player ever to be here,” said Loftsson. “Not only for me, just as well for my country.  It’s a good feeling representing your country. It means a lot to me.”

A Icelandic television crew and other media have made their way to Greensboro to document Loftsson’s endeavor. “You can recognize them by their skin color,” he said with a chuckle.

“We play about four to five months a year because of weather conditions and it’s … growing very fast,” said Loftsson.  “A lot of the population now plays golf. It’s very popular for youngsters now and we’re seeing a lot of potential players rising in these days.

“You can’t play golf all year around in Iceland,” Loftsson added. “To play on European or PGA TOUR you have to practice all year-round.”

Loftsson first went to Division III Oglethrope, where he won an individual national championship as a freshman, and then transferred to Charlotte, where he’s a two-time All-Atlantic 10 performer. “Basically the best opportunity for me was to go to college here in the States,” he said, “so I found myself a school here in Division III to start with and worked my way up and am now at UNC-Charlotte in Division I and having a great time over there, and it’s probably the best opportunity to get better is to go through college here in the States where you can both educate yourself and play some golf and it’s been a lot of fun so far. I’m very excited about the future.”

Loftsson said there has been quite a reaction in Iceland to his entrance in the tournament. “People over there are very pleased to see me have some success,” he said. “It was kind of sudden, obviously getting a sponsor’s exemption through that win last week but, you know, as I said earlier, it’s the second most popular sport in Iceland and people are all over it and very excited to be able to represent Iceland here and kind of show the world that we do play golf in Iceland and we can be pretty darn good.”

Loftsson was introduced to golf by his parents. “They both played a lot of golf and still do. I started going out with my parents on the golf course when I was a kid and I really picked up the game when I was about 12, 13 years old and at the time I started loving the game.  I spent almost everyday on the golf course and still do today.”

Loftsson said he is not intimidated by his surroundings this week — enjoying a practice round with David Duval yesterday — and has high expectations for his performance at the Wyndham Championship.

“I enter every tournament to win so even though I’m playing the PGA TOUR event now I always play to win,” Loftsson said. “Obviously it’s a lot of fun spending time with the guys you’ve looked up to for all these years and it’s obviously a little bit weird standing around these guys on the driving range and on the putting green. Basically everybody I’ve met, they’ve been super nice and helped me out and I’m just very excited about playing with these guys for the next few rounds.

“I’m going to enjoy these few days and enjoy this experience and try to learn as much as I can because I intend to be here in the future.”

Sedgefield owner McConnell Golf is currently constructing a "Wall of Champions" overlooking the club's ninth green.

GREESNBORO, N.C. — There was a palpable buzz throughout the corridors of historic Sedgefield Country Club on Monday during the annual Media Day press conference for the 2011 Wyndham Championship, as 10th year tournament director Mark Brazil stepped to the podium and announced that the PGA TOUR and Wyndham Worldwide were extending their title sponsorship of the event for four years through 2016.

“It’s a win-win situation, and it’s great news for the region,” Brazil said. “It’s a way bigger deal in this economy. There’s no guarantees on these title sponsorships. It is hard for title sponsors to come out of pocket for a large amount of money for one event. But it’s working for Wyndham. They’re getting their key clients here, walking the course, seeing Wyndham Championship logos everywhere, having a good experience with all the executives.”
The 2011 Wyndham Championship will be contested August 15-21 at the Donald-Ross designed Sedgefield CC, where 10-time international winner Arjun Atwal is set to defend his maiden PGA TOUR title.

“I’m honored to come back,” said Atwal at Monday’s press conference. “It meant a lot to me to win here last year. It was nice to see the place again. It will be fun to come back. Right now, I’m just thinking about Akron (and the Bridgestone Invitational). But when I get back here in a couple of weeks I’ll be looking forward to the tournament. When you have these good memories of making putts and things like that, it helps you when you are out there. You automatically start feeling good about yourself.”

Along with his first PGA TOUR victory at Sedgefield, Atwal managed a lot of other “firsts” in 2010: First wire-to-wire winner in Greensboro since Jesper Parnevik in 1999. First Indian-born player to win on TOUR, and the first TOUR player to win both the qualifier and the tournament that follows since Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open. His victory was yet another historical footnote in the annals of the Greater Greensboro Open — or the GGO — as the event was originally known and has been popularly called through the years.

Greensboro has been a regular and popular stop on the PGA TOUR since the tournament’s inception in 1938, and the tournament has stood as a proud part of the Gate City’s heritage for 70-plus years. It is the sixth-oldest tournament on the PGA Tour and has contributed through the years millions of dollars to area charities.

The 2011 championship has a $5.2 million purse set and had entered the final year of its contract with Wyndham.

Since the tournament returned to Sedgefield from Forest Oaks four years ago and Wyndham came aboard as a sponsor, the tournament has rapidly gained steady momentum. The Wyndham Championship is the final event of the PGA TOUR Regular Season and plays a pivotal role in the race to the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. The event offers the final opportunity for players to improve their seeding heading into the Playoffs, or in some instances, move into the top 125 to qualify for the first Playoff event, The Barclays.
“We are proud to extend our agreement with our wonderful partners at Wyndham Worldwide,” said Bobby Long, Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation Board of Directors chairman. “On behalf of the entire region, we are very appreciative of Wyndham Worldwide’s continued support and the stability it provides our PGA TOUR event. We couldn’t ask for better partners in our quest to make the Wyndham Championship A++ in every way.”

Also on hand Monday were numerous representatives of Raleigh-based McConnell Golf, which purchased Sedgefield in February and is currently in the throes of numerous upgrades and restorations around the club.

Already at Sedgefield, McConnell Golf has begun its renovation work most noticeably with a new Wall of Champions overlooking the ninth green and featuring all the past Wyndham Championship winners, along with a freshly painted water tower, major tree work and landscaping around the clubhouse, an updated clubhouse interior, four new brick columns adorning the clubhouse entrance, extensive bunker work on No. 3 and rerouted cart paths and stone bridge renovation on Nos. 10 and 18.

Like everyone else around Sedgefield CC on Monday, McConnell Golf Founder and CEO John McConnell said he was thrilled with the Wyndham sponsorship extension announcement.

“I think it will certainly give the tournament a long-term strategy,” said McConnell. “You can make changes around the golf course, the clubhouse and it makes it easier to improve things. You don’t have to worry about being out of business or whatever in the next year or so. The commitment really gives you more security and a better chance to improve the tournament.”
Founded in 2003, McConnell Golf has been widely hailed throughout the golf world by promoting pure golf for the true golfer, delivering quality golf and top-shelf amenities to its members at strategically located courses throughout the Carolinas. “The Greensboro Triad area of North Carolina is a fertile market,” McConnell said “We can now deliver our multiple-club experience to golfers in this region.”

For McConnell Golf, along with adding another Donald Ross-designed classic to its stable of premier offerings, the Sedgefield Country Club acquisition strategically complements the existing portfolio of golf properties to which McConnell Golf members have privilege, including the Raleigh Country Club in Raleigh, N.C., Cardinal Golf & Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., Treyburn Country Club in Durham, N.C., Old North State in New London N.C., The Reserve in Pawleys Island, S.C., and Musgrove Mill Golf Club in Clinton, S.C.

McConnell Golf offers its country club members an unusual deal: Those who pay an initiation fee at one course gain access to all seven. With full golfing privileges at all McConnell Golf properties, members enjoy the benefits of playing a selection of top-ranked courses all maintained to the same high standards associated with any McConnell Golf Club.

McConnell Golf’s attention to quality is also a chief reason why all five of the McConnell Golf-owned courses in North Carolina were ranked among the state’s prestigious Top 100 released in the April 2011 issue of Business North Carolina magazine. The company even allows outside play through its innovative “McConnell Golf Trail,” which offers its guests a rare opportunity to comfortably travel around the Carolinas and play a geographically well-positioned sampling of some of the most prestigious private golf courses in North and South Carolina.

Lucas Glover, the 2009 United States Open champion, appreciates first hand the quality of courses on the McConnell Golf Trail. As a McConnell Golf member, a native of Greenville, S.C., who grew up playing golf around the Carolinas, and a former All-American at Clemson University, Glover is well qualified to endorse McConnell Golf’s weeklong dream tour.

“These are some of the finest private courses in the Carolinas,” Glover said. “McConnell Golf understands that combining championship golf with excellent service results in an experience by which all others will be measured.”

“We are delighted to continue our relationship with Wyndham Worldwide, especially given the critical role the Wyndham Championship has played in the schedule as the final event in the PGA TOUR Regular Season,” said Tim Finchem, PGA TOUR commissioner. “Thanks to Wyndham Worldwide’s partnership, the Wyndham Championship has received tremendous support in the region, and our players have embraced the event, its leadership and the golf course at Sedgefield Country Club. These factors have all played a large impact on the increases in the tournament’s charitable giving since Wyndham signed on as title sponsor in 2007.”

In the five years since Wyndham Worldwide joined the Piedmont Triad’s PGA TOUR event, the Wyndham Championship has provided more than $1 million in charitable impact annually to organizations including the tournament’s official charity, Wishes By Wyndham. Other charitable organizations that have benefited from the Wyndham Championship include Victory Junction, The First Tee of the Triad, the Kevin Harvick Foundation, the American Junior Golf Association Ace Grant, the Crosby Scholars Community Partnership, Multiple Sclerosis of Central North Carolina and the Piedmont Triad Partnership, the organization that promotes central North Carolina regionalism.