Media Day Announcement: The Victory Junction Gang Camp, a facility for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses becomes a Chrysler Classic charity for the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. This partnership includes a $50,000 donation to the Victory Junction Gang Camp through the CRESTOR® Charity Challenge. The second half of the $100,000 CRESTOR® Charity Challenge will be completed following the third round of the Chrysler Classic. The 54-hole leader will determine which tournament charity will receive the second $50,000 donation from CRESTOR. Defending Chrysler Classic winner Brent Geiberger joined Kyle Petty, tournament officials, and CRESTOR executives at the camp this morning to make the present the $50,000 check to the camp. “We are proud to partner with the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Petty family,” Tournament Director Mark Brazil said. “With the CRESTOR® Charity Challenge, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro has a great opportunity to recognize important organizations in the Piedmont Triad that truly make a difference. The Victory Junction Gang Camp is a wonderful facility that makes great contributions to many children’s lives. You can’t get much more meaningful than that.”
“The Chrysler Classic of Greensboro is a huge event for us,” Victory Junction Gang Camp founder and NASCAR driver Kyle Petty said. “This is an exciting new relationship and it’s great to work with another enthusiastic sporting community. We want this day to go a long way for the camp. It is really important for us, and we are thankful for the opportunity to share Victory Junction with the players and the entire golf community. We’re really looking forward to this event. I think it’s going to be a great day for everyone.” A public check presentation for the second half of the CRESTOR® Charity Challenge will follow the third round of the Chrysler Classic on Saturday, Oct. 1.
More Victory Junction Gang Camp: Founded by NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in honor of their late son Adam, Victory Junction is a year-round, multi-disease camp serving children from the Carolinas and Virginia. The camp provides sessions to children ages 7 to 15 with life-threatening illnesses. The Victory Junction Gang Camp has a racing theme that allows campers to begin their experience by entering the camp through a tunnel and crossing a starting line into the world of racing. Victory Junction’s 75-acre site has more than 36 buildings, including a dining hall, gym, pool, theater, therapeutic equestrian center, arts and crafts center, race shop, and 16 camper cabins. The Victory Junction Gang Camp, a Proud Charity of NASCAR, opened on June 20, 2004 and is free to children and their families. For more information, visit www.victoryjunction.org
More CRESTOR® Charity Challenge: The CRESTOR® Charity Challenge is a season-long competition that recognizes and rewards the tournament leader entering the final round at 35 PGA TOUR events in 2005. The Chrysler Classic of Greensboro is the 31st CRESTOR® Charity Challenge event of the season. Last year at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, $50,000 was donated to Brenner Children’s Hospital and $25,000 each was donated to the Crisis Pregnancy Center and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation on behalf of the CRESTOR® Charity Challenge winners, Tom Lehman and Brent Geiberger, respectively.
Drive to $1 Billion: Charity is the name of the game on the PGA TOUR. The 2005 season marks the TOUR’s Drive to $1 billion. Prior to the beginning of the 2005 season, the PGA TOUR and its tournaments had generated more than $910 million for charity since 1938, the first year such records were kept. The PGA TOUR is the only professional sports league designed to donate its net tournament proceeds to local charities. This year, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro’s goal for charitable contributions is $750,000. The 2005 Chrysler Classic charities include the Victory Junction Gang Camp, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Central North Carolina, American Junior Golf Association Ace Grant, Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test and the North Carolina Jaycees Burn Center.
AIG Leaderboard: The 18th green at Forest Oaks Country Club will sport a very different look this year with the debut of the AIG Leaderboard. The old manual scoreboard will be replaced with a giant video screen and electronic scoreboard. Fans at the 18th green will be able to watch the television broadcast when golfers are not playing the par-four 18th hole.
Current Player Commitments: Among the current Chrysler Classic player commitments are Sergio Garcia, John Daly, 1992 champion Davis Love III, Jason Gore, Stewart Cink, defending champion Brent Geiberger, Bernhard Langer, Tim Clark, KJ Choi, Lee Janzen, 1993 and 2002 champion Rocco Mediate, presumed 2005 Rookie of Year Sean O’Hair, 2003 champion Shigeki Maruyama, Steve Flesch, Peter Lonard, Jerry Kelly, Justin Rose, Aaron Baddeley, Jeff Sluman, Tim Petrovic, Scott McCarron, Geoff Ogilvy, Shaun Micheel, Kevin Na, Billy Mayfair, Lucas Glover, DJ Trahan and Joe Ogilvie.
Players who are a good possibility: Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman, 1990 champion Steve Elkington, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, Chad Campbell and Hank Kuehne.
Players with Local Connections: Several PGA TOUR golfers with local ties also have committed to the Chrysler Classic. Wake Forest alumnus Billy Andrade, Raleigh’s Carl Pettersson , N.C. State alumnus Tim Clark, Duke alumnus Joe Ogilvie, Smithfield’s Neil Lancaster and Darren Stiles from Pinehurst will play at Greensboro. Will MacKenzie from Greenville, N.C., and Greensboro’s John Maginnes aspire to compete, but both are in the Q-school category and must wait to hear if they can participate. Four Clemson alumni are playing: Lucas Glover, Jonathan Byrd, DJ Trahan, and Charles Warren.
Tournament Tickets: Chrysler Classic of Greensboro tickets can be purchased at all Triad Harris Teeter locations starting Tuesday, Aug. 30, and fans with a VIC card will get a $3 discount. When shopping at Triad Harris Teeter locations, golf fans can purchase tickets and receive a voucher which can be redeemed upon arrival at Forest Oaks Country Club during tournament week. Good-an-day tickets are $20, and children age 15 and younger are admitted free with a paying adult. Chrysler Classic tickets are also available through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570 or in person at 401 North Greene Street in the Greensboro Jaycees office.
A new tee box: Forest Oaks Country Club will play longer this year than ever before. A new tee box has been added the par-4 seventh hole. Course yardage for the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro will be 22 yards longer as the course grows from 7,311 yards to 7,333 yards.
Sponsorships Way Up: Sponsorships for the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro are well ahead of where they were a month before any of the last three tournaments. VF Corporation and Harris Teeter have increased their involvement and become Premier Partners. Nine companies are Tournament Partners: AIG United Guaranty, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, CRESTOR®, Jefferson Pilot Financial, the North Carolina Electric Co-op, Primland Resorts, Republic Services, SunCom Wireless and UPS. Hospitality space for this year’s tournament is virtually sold out.
Great Golf Market: The August 2005 issue of Golf Digest identifies the best golf cities in the United States. According to the magazine, America has 330 towns and cities which are also known as Metropolitan Statistical Areas with a population in excess of 50,000. Golf Digest ranked each of those cities on four criteria: access to golf (45%), weather (25%), value of golf (15%), and quality of golf (15%). The Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem market was the No. 1 golf market in the country with a population of more than 1 million, placing No. 64 overall on the list of 330 cities and towns.
Junior Clinic Returns: The Coca-Cola Junior Clinic presented by Triad Golf Today is set for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 25. A PGA TOUR professional will join local teaching professionals to give free lessons to Piedmont Triad kids. Each junior golfer will receive a free gift.
