Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mike Weir, PGA Pro, tees off from hole 1 during the NCR Celebrity Pro-Am at the Regions Tradition tournament held at Greystone Golf and Country Club’s Founders Course in Hoover in May 2022.
Organizers of the Regions Tradition golf tournament, the first of five major tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, are riding high after tour officials last year announced they were extending the tournament venue another 10 years.
That means it will be at Greystone Golf and Country Club through 2032.
“Not many tournaments get that kind of extension,” said George Shaw, the tournament director for Eventive Sports, formerly known as the Bruno Event Team.
This year’s Regions Tradition, which features 78 of the best golfers ages 50 and older, is scheduled for May 10-14, with the Drummond Co. Celebrity Pro-Am on Wednesday, May 10, and four rounds of championship play Thursday through Sunday. Gates open at 7 a.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Golfers expected to play include Justin Leonard, Padraig Harrington, John Daly, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Kenny Perry, Miguel Angel Jimenez, David Toms, Mike Weir and Tom Lehman.
Celebrities scheduled for the pro-am include new Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze, Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, UAB football coach Trent Dilfer, Alabama A&M football coach Connell Maynor, Alabama State football coach Eddie Robinson Jr., Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats, former NFL and Major League Baseball star Bo Jackson, former Auburn and NBA star Charles Barkley, country music singers Riley Green and Randy Owen, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Atlanta Braves star Dale Murphy, former U.S. Army soldier and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Noah Galloway, former Alabama quarterback and now sports broadcaster Greg McElroy, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and TV and radio personality
Paul Finebaum.
The pro golfers will be playing to win $375,000, and the total purse for the tournament is $2.5 million.
The Tradition tournament first was held in Arizona for 14 years from 1989 to 2002, then it moved to Oregon for eight years before coming to the Birmingham area in 2011. In the Birmingham area, it replaced the Regions Charity Classic, which began in 1992 as the Bruno’s Memorial Classic.
The Regions Tradition was held at Shoal Creek Golf & Country Club its first five years and then switched to Greystone Golf & Country Club in 2016, which was the original location of the Bruno’s Memorial Classic.
The Birmingham area tournament has raised more than $21 million for charities since 1992, including more than $5.5 million since becoming the Regions Tradition in 2011. Last year’s tournament, which attracted an estimated 75,000 people, raised more than $1.5 million for charity, with Children’s of Alabama getting at least $200,000 of that, Shaw said.
One of the special features for fans this year will be a concert by Chuck Leavell, who was a member of the Allman Brothers Band in their peak years in the 1970s and has been with The Rolling Stones since 1982. He also has toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov’t Mule and John Mayer.
Leavell was born in Birmingham and lived in Montgomery and Tuscaloosa before moving to Macon, Georgia, where he also works as a tree farmer, Shaw said. Leavell’s concert is scheduled to take place about 4 p.m. at the 10th hole after game play ends on Saturday. Admission is free to anyone with a tournament ticket, and the concert should last about 1½ to two hours, Shaw said.
Another feature this year will be a ladies long drive contest, featuring female golfers from Alabama colleges and universities.
The tournament also will feature more food trucks than in the past, at the request of fans, Shaw said. Expected food trucks include Eugene’s Hot Chicken, Margarita Grill, Krazy Good BBQ, Street Bowlz and O.Henry’s Coffee, he said.
Tickets for the tournament cost $25 per day, but children 18 and younger get in free with a ticketed adult. Public parking is free at Meadow Brook Corporate Park at 2600 Corporate Drive, with free shuttles dropping off guests at the Greystone clubhouse. There also is a rideshare lot for Uber and Lyft, with dropoff and pickup next to the clubhouse.
For more information or tickets, go to regionstradition.com.
