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**truebluefan** · 04-19-2008, 08:46 PM

TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
Purse: $5,500,000

**truebluefan** · 05-16-2008, 05:32 PM

ears ago, when Georgia-Pacific Corp. sponsored what is now the AT&T Classic, a G-P official made a sales call at the office of an Asian paper company executive whose walls were covered with photos of him playing golf.

"We have our own tournament," the G-P representative offered. "Why don't you come play?"

He did, and after a little golf, a bit of wining and dining and the requisite autograph-snagging, the paper executive said, "You know, we should do more business with you. We didn't realize how important you were."

The end result, recalled Steve Jackson, who also worked for G-P at the time, was tens of millions of dollars in new pulp sales.

"There are," Jackson notes, "those kinds of stories."

Jackson, who's now on the search committee looking for a new title sponsor for the tournament, hopes corporate America takes the point: Being title sponsor of a PGA Tour event like the one in Atlanta can pay off in many ways.

Now, if only someone would seize the opportunity to spend about $7 million a year for five years, plus related marketing costs, to put their name on the event.

The tournament's effort to land a title sponsor has been hampered by the downturn in the economy and by the reversal of fortunes of many companies that might otherwise jump at the chance to put their name on the event.

"We are the victim of the timing of business economics," Jackson said. "People are saying, we're not going to increase our spending this year."

complete article

**truebluefan** · 05-16-2008, 05:33 PM

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- David Duval got started on the next tournament in his latest comeback at one of his favorite restaurants.

Waffle House.

"I had eggs, chicken, toast, grits and a double order of hash browns," Duval said, breaking into a smile that has seemed so hard to muster through much of his golfing career. "Gotta have the double order of hash browns."

Now, if only Duval could order up the shots that once made him the world's No. 1 player.

It's been seven years since he was that aloof, buffed-up golfer in the dark, wraparound sunglasses, striking fear into lesser players and looking every bit like this generation's most worthy challenger to Tiger Woods.

But, instead of playing the Tom Watson role to Woods' Jack Nicklaus, Duval became the guy who would have trouble competing at Q-School. He still has his PGA TOUR card, but that has more to do with personal hardship than anything he's done lately on the course.

Duval played in only seven tournaments in 2007, stepping aside to be with his wife during a difficult pregnancy. He's played eight times this year on a "family crisis" waiver, but has yet to make a cut. Yep, the guy who's won nearly $17 million in his career has yet to earn a single dollar in 2008.

He's also heavier than he was in his prime, carrying a noticeable bulge around his midsection. He is listed at 180 pounds, but he's probably closer to 200 and says he needs to lose about 20 pounds. But Duval insists he's happy with his life and confident he can turn things around.

"I'm a lot closer to playing great golf than my scores indicate," said Duval, whose averaging nearly 75 strokes per round and doesn't rank any higher than 106th in the myriad of categories kept by the PGA TOUR. "When I'm swinging well, nobody hits the golf ball any better than I do."

He was once the world's top-ranked player, supplanting Woods in the standings. He became the first golfer ever to shoot 59 in the final round of a tournament, closing with an eagle on the 18th hole of the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He has won 13 tournaments on the PGA TOUR and 19 around the world, the last of them seemingly the one that would propel his career to even greater heights.

Instead, after winning the 2001 British Open, Duval went into a free fall. He slumped to 80th on the money list in 2002 and 211th the following year. He was more likely to shoot 80 as he was to break par, as likely to hit someone in the gallery as he was the fairway.

"It's a lot more fun when you're shooting 66 every day," he conceded Wednesday, before heading off to play in the pro-am for this week's AT&T Classic in suburban Atlanta.

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 05-16-2008, 05:35 PM

Kenny Perry sloshed through the water-logged fairways, ducking under an umbrella every chance he got. He also hit plenty of good shots on a miserable day at the TPC Sugarloaf.

Coming off a final-round meltdown at The Players Championship, Perry endured a steady — and occasionally driving rain — to claim a share of the first-round lead with a 6-under 66 at the AT&T Classic on Thursday.

The other leaders — Jonathan Kaye, Ryan Palmer, Jonathan Byrd and Parker McLachlin — all teed off in the morning, before a huge weather system engulfed the suburban Atlanta course.

They were the lucky ones.

Byrd was likely watching from his nice, dry hotel room by the time Perry rolled in a 14-footer to save par at the treacherous ninth, his final hole.

"I don't like playing in the rain. I can't think of anybody who does," Byrd said. "It's just not a whole lot of fun. It's a lot of work."

Perry's bogey-free round was especially impressive in light of the soggy conditions and other hardships.

He had to remain on the course during a 31-minute delay when the rain turned so heavy that play had to be halted. Then, when he got to his last hole, surely looking forward to calling it a day, he found a backlog of five groups waiting to tee off — all of them held up by an earlier ruling on Glen Day that took nearly a half-hour to sort out.

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 05-18-2008, 11:14 PM

Ryuji Imada defeated Kenny Perry at the first extra hole to win the AT&T Classic on Sunday to capture his first career PGA title.

Imada, who lost to Zach Johnson in a play-off last year after hooking his second shot into the water, won in eerily similar fashion over Perry, whose second play-off shot found the water.

After cautiously laying his second shot within 131 feet of the pin, Imada needed a pair of putts to move within four feet of the hole.

But he sank his final putt to edge Perry, who needed to make a 14-footer to force a second play-off hole.

Imada, who entered the final round tied for sixth, fired a five-under-par 67 which included six birdies and just one bogey to finish at 15-under-par overall.

Colombian Camilo Villegas carded a 66 on Sunday to finish in sole possession of third at 14-under, with Jonathan Byrd (70) fourth at 13-under while overnight leader Charles Howell III (74) slumped to an eighth-place tie at 11-under.