PGA of America Drops Sahalee for 2010 Major

Concerned about the loss of corporate sponsorships due to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., the PGA of America said it will reschedule the 92nd PGA Championship slated for August 2010 at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash.

"One of our goals with our major championships is to take it to different parts of the country," said PGA of America Chief Executive Officer Jim L. Awtrey. "We enjoyed a successful PGA Championship in 1998 when we visited the Pacific Northwest at Sahalee Country Club and Vijay Singh earned his first major championship. We look forward to working with Sahalee Country Club officials to try and reschedule future PGA of America events."

"While we are disappointed that the 2010 PGA Championship will not be played at Sahalee Country Club we can not overlook the obstacles we would face with the Winter Olympic Games being conducted on our doorstep in the same year," said Sahalee Country Club President Jack Calabrese. "We look forward to working with The PGA of America to bring a major championship to the Pacific Northwest."

The PGA Championship, which dates back to its inaugural event in 1916, will mark its 87th Championship, August 11-14, when it makes its first visit to Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.

In comments to the Seattle Times, Awtrey said, “Our target would be to bring the tournament back to Sahalee between 2012 and 2015.” He added, “We had a letter-of-intent to hold the tournament at Sahalee in 2010. We take that letter seriously. We intend to come back to Sahalee and Seattle . . . We believe in your community, we believe in Seattle and we plan to come back.”

The tournament has sites committed through 2009, and the 2011 event has been awarded to Atlanta Country Club. Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc., site of the very successful 2004 PGA Championship, might step into the void and replace Sahalee in 2010.

Awtrey reaffirmed his support for Sahalee and Seattle’s golf fans. “The players love (the course),” Awtrey said. “Look at the winner there: Vijay Singh. It was the first time he had won a major championship, and now he is the best player in the world. It was a beautiful week, and we crowned a great champion. There is no place we’ve been that the players enjoyed themselves more than Seattle.”

In 2002, Sahalee hosted the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational. The Seattle area had been the annual site for a Champions Tour event (the GTE Northwest Championship, then played on the Senior PGA Tour) in the 1980s and ‘90s, and the LPGA Tour, the Safeco Classic, around the same period. The Champions Tour will return to the Puget Sound region August 19-21 when the Greater Seattle Champions Classic will be played at the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge.