A shame but hardly surprising

The PGA Tour released its 2007. To no one's surprise, the BC Open will not be a tour stop beginning next year. The tournament may instead be a Champions tour event but could also be contingent on the tournament getting a commercial sponsor. Never in the BC Open's history has the event had a sponsor.

The BC Open has given me fond memories. I attended the event three years 1985-87 with my father. It's played in upstate New York, in the town of Endicott. BC always had a small town type atmosphere to it and this helped make it my favorite PGA tour stop. How many PGA tour stops do fans park across the street from the course? None in Florida. Go to Doral and you'll be parked 10 miles from the course.

I hate to see the BC Open leaving the tour. Lets hope it carries on as a Champions Tour event.

Open Post- Third World County, TMH's Bacon Bits, Uncooperative Blogger,

JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. A golf tournament that's been an important annual upstate event may become part of the P-G-A Champions Tour starting next year.Organizers of the B-C Open this afternoon announced the tournament may join the Champions Tour -- if they can meet financial and other requirements.

The B-C Open is held at the En Joie Golf Club in Endicott, just west of Binghamton.
Officials of Broome County Community Charities -- which operates the tournament -- are expected to review the requirements set out by the P-G-A and make a decision on the event within the next few weeks.

The organization will seek to attract a title sponsor for the tournament -- something that's proven to be elusive despite ongoing efforts in recent years.

Next year's rookie class of golfers on the Champion Tour will include Nick Price and Mark O'Meara. The following year, two upstate natives -- Joey Sindelar and Mike Hulbert -- will become eligible.

Last minute update- The BC isn't the only tournament meeting the axe. Tour stops in Hartford and Washington DC are being eliminated or demoted.

Read the AP article. Their golf writer Doug Ferguson a former Knucklehead winner shows his golf ignorance. The PGA tour has not been in Washington since 1968. The Kemper Open was played in North Carolina from 1969-1979.

Its a shame a wire service employs such a error prone hack like Ferguson. The AP has plenty of such political writers, why not sports?