NIKE UTAH CLASSIC
It has seemed like a busy summer for big golf tournaments with the Provo Open Skins Game, the Champions Challenge, the State Amateur, the Novell Utah Showdown and the Utah Open.However, one biggie remains -- the Nike Utah Classic, which will be staged Sept. 2-5 at Willow Creek Country Club. And capping off that tournament will be the Ganter Cup Challenge on Sept. 6 (Labor Day) with four stars from the PGA Tour, David Duval, Fred Couples, Craig Stadler and John Cook, playing against the top three Nike Tour players on the money list, plus the winner of the Utah Classic.
The Utah Classic has a purse of $375,000, which makes it the second-highest paying tournament on the Nike Tour behind the season-ending Nike Tour Championship at $400,000. Because of the purse and tournament being played late in the season, every top player on the Nike Tour is expected to play.
Local exemptions have been given to Dean Wilson, the winner of the recent Utah Open, and Steve Schneiter, who won the City Parks Open and just missed making the cut at last week's PGA Championship. Also some local pros may qualify for the tournament at the open qualifying at Wingpointe GC Aug. 30.
HOLE IN ONE
The annual $1 million Hole-in-One Shootout began today and runs through Saturday at Glendale Golf Course. Qualifying is from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
TOP 100
Golf Magazine has come out with its latest list of the top 100 courses in the United States, and once again no Utah courses made the list. Anyone who plays golf in Utah knows how many nice courses are in the state and shouldn't be offended that none can crack the top 100 in the country.
Everyone knows the courses ranked No. 2, 3 and 4 -- Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and Augusta National -- but many casual fans may not be familiar with the No. 1 course -- Pine Valley in Clementon, N.J. It was built back in 1918, but the private course doesn't play host to any big tournaments.
Rounding out the top 10 are Shinnecock Hills (N.Y.), Pinehurst No. 2 (N.C.), Merion (Pa.), Sand Hills (Neb.), Oakmont (Pa.) and Seminole (Fla.).