Greenbrier hosts first event of the PGA’s 2019-20 season

The first event of the 2019-2020 schedule, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, will be held next week. Courtesy photo
SHEPHERDSTOWN – It’s back to the leafy charms of The Greenbrier Resort for the Professional Golfers Association tour.
The first event of the 2019-2020 schedule will be staged at The Greenbrier next week – Thursday through Sunday – and has early commitments from Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Bryson DeChambeau and Zach Johnson.
The 72-hole tournament pays homage to the country’s military personnel and uses 1,000 volunteers to stage six days of family-oriented fun beginning on Monday.
Watson has become a local favorite – both on and off the course – because of his monetary contributions to local and area families in the Lewisburg and White Sulphur Springs region, following the devastating floods that ravaged those towns in June 2016, and actually caused the cancellation of one PGA tournament at The Greenbrier, scheduled for July 7-10, 2016.
The Greenbrier Resort’s 11,000 acres have numerous people-friendly activities going on during the week of the tournament.
Players have until today to formally register for the event. A total of 156 players will be vying for over $7 million in prize money.
The Old White TPC course gives the long hitters plenty of fairway space off the tees, providing generous width at the landing areas on most holes. However, the ever-present undulating greens do make scoring more difficult. Stuart Appleby won the inaugural Greenbrier Salute to the Military when he carded a last-round 59 to boldly close his Sunday round in 2010.
Kevin Na won the last Greenbrier Salute in July of 2018.
Recent celebrities participating in the yearly Pro-Am tournaments held on the Wednesdays before the actual tournament begins have been former WVU football dignitaries Don Nehlen, Jeff Hostetler and Marc Bulger. Marshall has been represented by Dan D’Antoni and Mike D’Antoni. Professional athletes Shaq O’Neal and Larry Fitzgerald have also brought their golf games to the Pro-Ams.
In past tournaments, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and John Daly have been persuaded to play by the urging of The Greenbrier’s owner Jim Justice, the current governor of West Virginia.
Outside of the many amenities provided the golfers by Justice and his staffers, the golf course itself and the quiet environment surrounding The Greenbrier bring many players and their families to the tournament.