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Greenbrier Classic open to its fans

By Staff | Jun 20, 2016

Get on the internet if you want to see the likes of Bubba Watson, defending champion Danny Lee and gray-haired and portly Angel Cabrera for free.

Gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice, the 6-foot-8 deacon of everything concerning West Virginia, will let you in free at his Professional Golf Association-sponsored Greenbrier Classic to be held from July 7-10 on the spiffy Old White Course layoff in White Sulphur Springs.

Just go to the Internet and locate the website of the Greenbrier Classic. Do what’s required to land a badge (at no cost) and be one of 32,000 spectators for one of the four days of the professional golf tournament.

This will be the seventh version of the Greenbrier Classic, which accepted its spot in early July when Buick dropped its sponsorship of a tournament years ago.

Early July is a hard sell to the pro golfers. The date falls between the U.S. Open and the British Open and many players skip the tournament to be with their families around the Fourth of July.

At first, Justice twisted the arms of Tiger Woods, John Daly, Phil Mickelson and other luminaries of the PGA circuit to come for a luxurious week of pleasure and golf at his resort in Greenbrier County. He had world famous musical acts performing at the West Virginia Fair grounds in nearby Lewisburg.

Woods is injured and can’t play. Daly has joined the Senior Tour since he just passed his 50th birthday and Mickelson has never fared well on the Old White Course.

The field can include up to 156 players, and they will fire away on the par-70 course for the prize money of $6,900,000. Danny Lee was a playoff winner last year and carted away $1,242,000 as the 2015 champion. A spot in the British Open is reserved for the 2016 winner.

You can’t just drive to White Sulphur Springs and show up at the front gate and expect to walk in for free. You have to present a badge that you have already obtained . . . and then you can walk the spacious grounds . . . and see Justice hit a few ceremonial shots in between his campaigning to be the next governor of the great state of West Virginia.

There’s no nightly entertainment in Lewisburg this year. But there are world-class golfers lofting shots to the usually receptive greens. And there is no cost to you and yours should you visit the website of the Greenbrier Classic and obtain your badges.