2019 Regions Tradition golf tournament back May 8-12

Seventy-eight of the top PGA Tour Champions players and World Golf Hall of Fame members are headed to Greystone Golf and Country Club for the 2019 Regions Tradition on May 8-12.

Last year’s champion, Miguel Angel Jimenez, will be competing against pros such as Bernhard Langer, David Toms, Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie and Kenny Perry for the $360,000 top prize.

The total purse for all the players is $2.4 million, said George Shaw, tournament director for the Bruno Event Team.

The Regions Tradition is the first of five major tournaments put on by the PGA Tour Champions, which features professional golfers age 50 and older.

Tournament organizers will continue trying to make it into a social event to bring out more than just golf fans, Shaw said. “In any market, there’s a finite number of golf fans,” he said.

One of the big draws is the NCR Celebrity Pro-Am, which will feature an array of popular football and basketball coaches, former Alabama and Auburn quarterbacks, the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum and Laura Rutledge, sports journalist Clay Travis, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and musicians John Bell and Taylor Hicks.

This will be the second year for The Watering Hole, which Shaw described as a “party hole” at the 10th green. It will include a wine lounge and other tents with alcoholic drinks and cigars.

After third round of play on Saturday, The Black Jacket Symphony cover band will perform the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” album and other Stones hits in a concert at The Watering Hole. The estimated time is about 5 p.m. Admission is free with a tournament ticket.

On Wednesday, celebrities will take part in a putting contest. Celebrities and coaches will attempt a 50-foot putt on the putting green, and if they sink it, Children’s of Alabama hospital will get a $25,000 donation. The Sunday before the tournament will feature a “yoga on the green” event.

Last year’s Regions Tradition raised $703,000 for charities in Alabama. Children’s of Alabama is the largest recipient of donations, but the Birdies for Charities program last year raised $486,000 for about 75 charitable groups, said Angel Lewis, of the Bruno Event Team.

Since the tournament became a major tournament in 2011, it has raised more than $4.5 million for charities, Lewis said. Since its inception in 1992, the total is more than $17 million, she said.

For more information, visit regionstradition.com.

2019 REGIONS TRADITION SCHEDULE

► May 5: Shipt Yoga on the Green at driving range, 30-minute yoga foundation class at 4 p.m.; 75-minute Vinyasa flow class at 5 p.m.; wine-down social hour at 6:15 p.m.; $10 donation requested (includes two free golf tournament tickets)

► May 8: NCR Celebrity Pro-Am, first tee time 6:50 a.m. Includes: SEC football coaches Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn, Kirby Smart and Matt Luke; UAB football coach Bill Clark; Alabama A&M football coach Connell Maynor; Alabama State University football coach Donald Hill-Eley; former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former NFL and Major League Baseball star Bo Jackson; and John Bell of Widespread Panic.

► May 9: First round play; gates open at 7 a.m.; first tee time 8 a.m.; Michelob Ultra Putt for Cash, 5 p.m.

► May 10: Second round play; gates open at 7 a.m.; first tee time 8 a.m.; live mariachi band Tres Amigos at Cocina Club, 3-5 p.m.; Lexus hole-in-one shootout at The Watering Hole at 10th green, 5 p.m.

► May 11: Third round play; gates open at 7 a.m.; first tee time 8 a.m.; live mariachi band Tres Amigos at Cocina Club, 3-5 p.m.; The Black Jacket Symphony presents the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” at The Watering Hole at 10th green, 5 p.m.

► May 12: Final round play; gates open at 7 a.m.; first tee time 8 a.m.; awards ceremony at 18th green immediately after play

TV SCHEDULE

Live on Golf Channel, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

TICKETS

Go to regionstradition.com; $25 for one day; $100 Wednesday-Sunday (plus processing fee); children 18 and younger get free junior tickets when accompanied by ticketed adult; active and retired military with valid ID admitted free.