The Old White
Great news for the PGA Tour and West Virginians! — well, at least Jim Justice and the folks that run The Greenbrier Resort. I n a media conference on Tuesday, Justice, along with PGA Tour chief of operations Andy Pazder, a fellow West Virginia native, announced that the pertinent parties had signed a six-year extension to keep The Greenbrier Classic on the Tour schedule through 2021.
Here’s part of the media blast before I go on a mini-rant.
“The first three years of our contract with the PGA TOUR have been a thrilling ride,” said Jim Justice, Chairman and Owner of The Greenbrier. “The TOUR is a fantastic partner and we’re so proud and excited to announce that The Greenbrier Classic will remain a bright light on the landscape of the PGA TOUR and continue to give our fans heart-pounding tournament action for years to come. The entire state of West Virginia and the region as a whole have embraced the tournament from the very beginning. Without the passion and support of our local and regional communities The Greenbrier Classic could not have grown so quickly into one of the premiere events on TOUR.”
A West Virginian who was born and raised near The Greenbrier, Justice wanted to bring a PGA TOUR tournament to The Greenbrier from the time he purchased the resort in May 2009, believing a top-tier tournament would help restore The Greenbrier’s reputation as a five-star resort.
In just its second year, The Greenbrier Classic received several awards from the PGA TOUR at last year’s Annual PGA TOUR Tournament Meeting in December, including the coveted Best in Class among all tournaments.
“Jim Justice has shown genuine passion and commitment to not only host a PGA TOUR event, but to build one into a premier stop on the PGA TOUR,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Through his dedicated efforts, Jim has managed to achieve his goal in just two years, as evidenced by last year’s Best in Class Award. He has turned The Greenbrier Classic into a true celebratory event during Fourth of July week. We’re obviously thrilled that Jim had a desire to move forward and extend beyond his original commitment after just three years.”
The Old White TPC Course, The Greenbrier’s original of four golf courses dating back to 1914, was designed by Charles Blair MacDonald. Following the inaugural Greenbrier Classic in 2010, when champion Stuart Appleby closed with a 59 to tie the all-time PGA TOUR single round record and finish 22-under par, the course underwent a renovation to make it more challenging for TOUR professionals. Last year, Scott Stallings won a one-hole playoff against Bob Estes and Bill Haas after they tied at 10-under par.
“I know the players will be excited that The Greenbrier Classic will be on the schedule for years to come,” said Andy Pazder, Chief of Operations for the PGA TOUR. “The Greenbrier is one of the finest resorts in the world and provides the players and their families with a great experience to complement the tournament.”
The Greenbrier is steeped in golf history and has enjoyed considerable involvement with professional golf over the years. The Greenbrier Course, built in 1924 and renovated by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, played host to the 1979 Ryder Cup Matches as well as the 1994 Solheim Cup Matches. It also played host to a Champions Tour tournament from 1985-87. World Golf Hall of Fame member Sam Snead, the winningest player in PGA TOUR history with 82 victories, served as Golf Professional Emeritus from 1994 until his death in 2002. Tom Watson became The Greenbrier’s second Golf Professional Emeritus in 2005. The Golf Club also features a large collection of Snead and Watson memorabilia.
The players all seem to love the tournament. Let’s see — what’s their not to like? There’s a casino, a luxury resort and Justice makes sure the players are well-taken care of (especially if you’re Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the other big names that received a check to show up). Ask anyone else what they think of the event and the answer might be a tad more varied.
I’d start with the people of West Virginia who still don’t have power or running water. Local media and residents have criticized Justice for monopolizing government resources in the recovery effort after the storm that hit he region last weekend. Well, Jim Justice himself didn’t have power until 20 minutes before he left for the media conference. So there!
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Justice is lobbying for the Tour to name The Greenbrier as host for the 2017 Presidents Cup.
It seems that what Jim Justice gets, Jim Justice wants. That said, I’m guessing he’ll find a way to buy it (nothing wrong with that — call me cynical, but it’s the way the world works sometimes). I have a major piece of advice: Start building the infrastructure (i.e. accommodations for media, club reps, volunteers, fans, vendors, etc.) to host that kind of event — they have five years, so the clock is ticking.
The tournament wants The Greenbrier Classic itself to be a major event with the top players that’s covered with lots of national and international media. Well, it’s tough to make that happen unless you can house people — and sorry, but allotting 5 rooms for the press isn’t enough. Nor is providing caddies with “camping” as a housing option (and no that is not a joke — that really happened last year.)
At least one media member from a major network who decided to bail on covering it this year because a few weeks ago, he couldn’t get a phone call returned in a timely fashion re: accommodations. I was in the same boat and exhausted just about every resource and called nearly every hotel/motel within a 30-mile radius without luck (again, no water or power anywhere). So I started driving back to NYC and I was more than halfway home when I decided to make one last call. Somehow the stars were aligned, and thanks to the nice people at The Homestead Resort, I will be able to cover the great tourney.
I know I’m insane, but I turned around. Well, first, I drove 30 more miles to the Harrisburg airport to return my one-way rental, and then book and pick up a new rental car. It was worth it once I got here.
Now I realize this sounds like a lot of stupid media griping, and in some ways it is, but we need somewhere to stay in order to do our jobs — so do the caddies, clubs reps, etc. — and bring you the best coverage possible. And my larger point is that to host a big-time event, you need to be prepared to have the logistics in place to successfully do so, and besides the VIPs, there are little people to take care of, too!
It’s been a long few weeks, so I’m going to chalk up my delirious rambling to that. I’ll stop now.
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On Sunday Justice praised the incredible work of volunteers who helped with cleaning up the damage on the golf course the storm left behind.
““There were 70 to 80 trees damaged on The Old White Course with more than 200 hit if you include The Meadows and The Greenbrier courses,” he said in a statement. We have had hundreds of volunteers and tournament vendors working with our staff in the clean up effort as we get ready for The Greenbrier to be thrust onto the national stage for The Greenbrier Classic. It fills me with pride to know that the people of West Virginia are donating their precious time to the tournament, while many of them are without power and dealing with damage of their own.”
He was questioned about this amazing effort regardless of those who have voiced their criticism of the tournament. He said he was hurt and “it cuts deep.”
When I mentioned to a player/caddie that Justice had managed to gather up locals to help with the clean-up of the course, the response? “Oh, really? Wow, that’s surprising since Greenbrier does absolutely nothing for the town…”
Turns out the hundreds of “volunteers” were actually mostly “employees.”
“If you can’t the volunteers, oher than our people, there may have been 50,” said Justice on Tuesday. “You know, there weren’t a thousand. There may have been 50, exclusive of our people. And by our people I mean my ball team, employees, brothers and cousins, Sporting Club people, you know. All employees that I have in all kinds of different locations. They all came and they all came because they wanted to come, but, yeah, it’s really, really been tough.”
Well, I guess it doesn’t matter who it was, but the original press release was misleading. The important thing is that the course is in tournament-ready shape and the Jim Justice Show will go on.
(Getty Images/Hunter Martin)
Tiger, Phil and others got checks to show up???
Can you elaborate? I didn’t know PGA Tour events could do that. I know it happens a lot overseas. Just didn’t know it was done here.
after reading that it makes u feel like Justice is just another egomaniac sleezebag, but who knows? I dont think PGA tour players can be paid to show up for a tour sanctioned event, thats a major problem as far as I know. U sure Justice wrote a check to tiger and phil?? that would be a major story
(especially if you’re Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the other big names that received a check to show up)
This is a lie. How can you expect anything else in your article to be taken seriously when you lie in the beginning of it?
Tiger, Phil and other big names got money. There are lots of ways around the appearance fee rules on the PGA Tour. Greenbrier isn’t the only one who pays. Couple of examples:
1) all the Zurich ambassadors, you’ll notice they tend to play Zurich
2) off-site pro-ams week of the event
Dunno how Greenbrier is tech doing it (could be cut of what casino takes in for the wk, could be promotional resort fee etc), but yes they’re getting paid.
So you have no evidence of players being paid under the table except for the open endorsements that players receive? Very convincing argument you make there
@Steph – we all realize that their are “backdoor” or legal ways to get money to these guys in exchange for their attendance. One example is by sponsoring the player – McGladreys does that for a bunch of the guys. Buick used to be a big sponsor of Tigers, and he played all the Buick events. Phil usually played in all the Barclays Tourneys around the world due to his sponsorship with Barclays. My guess though is that those did not explicitly require they play in their tourneys, as to be legal, – but why not replay the company that is sponsoring you with playing in their event, meeting their customers/clients, ect? With regards to Justice and the Greenbriar, I noticed that Justice signed on to be one of the big sponsors of Phil’s new charity tourney this year at TPC Sawgrass in December (which is incidentally the same weekend as Tiger’s Chevron/Sponsor TBD World Challenge). Is there anything wrong with Phil playing at Greenbriar in consideration for something like that ? I don’t know, but I am sure they made sure their arrangement complied with PGA Tour rules, I’m sure they have access to plenty of lawyers to vet it. Just last week, you saw Tiger as the “host” and his foundation the main beneficiary of the ATT (a former Tiger sponsor), and not coincidentally, Tiger has played all of these that he could.
But as the commenters above have noted, to come out and say they are getting illegal appearance “checks” to play this event is not accurate, and is essentially calling them liars and cheaters. And that is not needed I think.
Ps. Enjoy the Homestead, its a very nice resort, with a beautiful location. Its premier course, The Cascades, is rated above any at the Greenbriar, but its a little to short for PGA standards. I was there a few years back when the NCAA Finals were being held there, and it was a great test.
I’m sure the arrangement is legal according to pga tour rules, point is there are lots of ways to get around tour rules. Doesn’t mean they aren’t getting paid to show up (the charity thing is a little dif since they aren’t pocketing the money themselves).
IF you think it’s a problem, this is the big one, it means guys like Justice, with a lot of money, can buy better fields than other pga tour events.
Personally speaking, I don’t care. Guys are paid to show up on tours all around the world, and many sports. I just wish we’d stop pretending it didn’t happen on pga tour.
Got, and I read the article by Elling which I put alot of stock in. However, posting doesn’t provide any of the nuances of Elling’s piece: It says they are getting checks for showing up, which is against the rules ie: they are cheating. Can it be structured so that they are not cheating? Yes, and as Elling says, it most is. So a post that says they are cheating is not helpful, and only adds to the confusion, as evident by the posts.
What is ect?
I guess according to you guys Elling over at CBS shouldn’t be calling it the greenback’s open. This is what sources are for.
If you had planned ahead would you be complaining about accommodations? I love what the Greenbrier and Justice are doing. You think the town would be better off if he didn’t save the Greenbrier from CSX years ago? Seriously.
It sounds like you couldn’t get a room because of abnormal conditions, no water – no power, because of a 100 year storm.
Wow, grouchy. Let the fine southern hospitality of the Homestead cheer you up. Go check out the Upper Cascades course,(’88 US Am site) it’s a real mountain course challenge and beautiful. Tell us more about these “appearance fees” for the top players.
Here’s an article from today by Elling on App fees on the PGA Tour and Greenbrier. He quotes the same figs I (and I’m sure Stephanie) have heard for TW and Phil this week, 1.5 and 1 mil respectively.
http://www.cbssports.com/golf/story/19489181/greenbrier-classic-is-example-of-hosting-a-tournament-the-american-way-throw-cash-at-players
Thanks for posting the link. I’ll be interested to see if it gets any replies from Stephanie’s detractors.
tiger wouldnt go out of his way for 1.5 mill, thats chump change to him. he could easily fetch 10 times that in overseas events and has in australia and the middle east. its all hearsay from agents and supposed “tour related officials”. fact is that in no way did justice write a check directly to any player, if he wrote a check that changed hands a few times or went through some 3rd parties and ended up with woods then so be it but a million bucks wouldnt motivate tiger or to phil to be somewhere they didnt want to be
tiger and phil would laugh at a million bucks. if this fat clown justice threw them some cash via a third party thats just him showing how willing he is to lose money to feed his overgrown ego and body. his resort is bleeding cash, the guys is a money losing machine these days and largely laughed at amongst serious business types.
Shoshana thanks for the link to the CBS article.
My only comment about this situation is that it does influence how I interpret Tiger’s effusiveness about the Greenbrier during his press conference. Guess he had $1.5M reasons to sell it with glowing words.
Prior to reading this post and the article, I had no idea he had any financial interest in the tournament other than potential prize money.
@eindtown, keep in mind that most players, even the ones not getting paid, are getting coddled by the tournament. And that’s true of any tournament (read: I really wouldn’t put much stock in anything these guys say a lot of the time). And btw, at most tour stops, media get taken care of too.
I should clarify. I’m not saying they are lying, I’m saying the experience they have is likely to be different than yours.
That being said I have heard good things about the greenbrier, if you can afford it (it’s massively expensive)
Thnx Shoshana!
We get it Stephanie, you don’t like old rich white guys. Comes through loud and clear in many of your stories. Last time I checked, he made his money, so it is his prerogative how he wishes to spend it. Also, the last time I checked, pro golfers are independent contractors, free to make money how ever they choose. Debating appearance fees has been done over and over, but if they are out there, I don’t see anything wrong with players collecting them. You don’t seem to have any qualms about accepting the many perks that come to you by being a member of the “media”.
So, Steph, greed is bad and all that stuff. I get it.
So there is no possible way you would hop on a plane paid for by promoters and go play some resort course, then blog about what a good time it was? That would be greed and bad, right?
My point is you are good at what you do, sought after, and your fan base is valued by someone who wants to promote their product. You deserve whatever rewards come to you for working your tail off and creating a valuable commodity (your presence). Same goes for you as it does for TW and PM.
the Greenbriar does nothing for the town? I’ve never been there but I suspect if the resort wasn’t there a lot of people in that town would be looking for jobs that are not in the hospitality or golf business. Possibly even having to go down many miles into the earth every day to mine for coal.
From what I can discover, the Greenbrier has roughly 1,800 full time equivalent employees, and West Virginia has an unemployment rate of 6.9%.
It appears that Mr Justice is doing a good thing by promoting his property, which in turn employs people.
Next time you visit a resort, take some time to observe all the staff that makes your visit enjoyable. Yes the housekeepers, plumbers, electricians, drywall hangers, tapers, painters, greens keepers, mechanics, on and on. These are the folks benefitting from TW and PM showing up and generating interest for the property.
I am sorry for Steph’s challenges getting accommodations, but let’s not overlook the big picture.
By the way – she should be in Kohler anyway.
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Someone should investigate the fact that the national guard was sent in to help with the cleanup, when ALOT of West Virginians were without basic needs, some who were trapped and couldnt get out because of downed trees and power lines. But where was the National Guard? At the Greenbrier with the Governor of course cleaning up a golf course. Justice did donate food and water AFTER THE MEDIA ARRIVED.
OH AND LETS NOT FORGET THAT SOME RESIDENTS HAD POWER, BUT WAS SHUT OFF AGAIN, THE ONLY EXPLANANTION FROM THE POWER COMPANY– “WE HAD TO SHUT IT OFF TO GIVE TO OTHERS.” Juatice admitted during the press conference and apologized that the Greenbrier had power at the expense of others. Some humanitarian, others suffer so the PGA can come into a place that has been declared in a state of emergency, the people in the community without basic needs,but what the heck, it is only 250,000 more people. Shame on Justice and the PGA.
This Jim justice pig doesn’t pay his bills and that is how he makes money