The tournament for the first week of October in the 2010 PGA Tour Media Guide was listed as TBA. In a matter of months, tournament host Davis Love III and the team of the McGladrey Classic overcame countless obstacles to put together what turned out to be a successful first-time event on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Ga. The second playing of the tournament this week, with Heath Slocum defending his title, figures to be even better.
"We put together a great team last year that pulled it off," said Love, whose Davis Love III Foundation manages the tournament. "This year, they've had a whole year to get ready. "We're down to the point now where everything we sell is just more money for charity. They've done an incredible job in a tough economy. We're on track to do better than last year, and that's what you want."Love and Zach Johnson, who both live in the area, spent much of last season trying to recruit players for what then was the second event of the PGA Tour Fall Series, which fell a week after the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales.
That presented another problem, because Love was an assistant to U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, while Johnson and Matt Kuchar played in the team event before flying back right at the start of tournament week for the McGladrey.
"It will be easier for players to get here that did play on Ryder Cup last year," said Love, whose brother and sometimes caddie, Mark, is executive director of the McGladrey. "Everybody that didn't play last year heard it from guys like Heath or others in the field what a great event it was. This field is just going to grow and grow, and hopefully we can grow the charity and the purse right along with it.
"Many players will go to the West Coast (for the first two events of the Fall Series) and come east for Sea Island and Disney (next week), two tournaments that the players and families love."Considering what they were up against a year ago, Love and Co. put together a respectable field that also included David Toms, Justin Leonard, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson, Jonathan Byrd, Trevor Immelman, Ben Curtis, Chris DiMarco, Mark Wilson and Robert Allenby. This year, however, it's better by leaps and bounds.
"It will be a great field if just our local players play," said Davis Love, referring to fellow locals Johnson, Kuchar, Byrd, Lucas Glover, Chris Kirk and Charles Howell III. "We had such a great year last year, and we're going to have a better field this year. Every one of the top players who came last year is coming back, and there will be a lot of new names on the list."Included in that number are Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera, Paul Casey, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Boo Weekley, Chad Campbell, Sean O'Hair and Paul Goydos.
Slocum, who claimed the fourth victory of his PGA Tour career in the McGladrey, has helped spread the word about the tournament and the Seaside Course to his other pros. "They're doing it right here," said Slocum, who had never seen the golf course before the tournament last year, when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole in the final round to claim a one-stroke victory over Haas.
"It's everything you ever wanted in a golf course and will call on every aspect of your game."Johnson probably is as responsible as anyone else for the tournament winding up at Sea Island. The 2007 Masters champion, who is sponsored by assurance, tax and consulting firm McGladrey, moved his family from Central Florida to St. Simons Island a few years ago. "I told (McGladrey executives) to come check this place out," Johnson said. "Soon they began bringing their clients and fell in love with it. It became a natural fit."
With a player as established as Love in the area, that connection also became a no-brainer.
Even though his name is not on the tournament, DL3 is aware that by having his name identified with a PGA Tour event he is walking in the footsteps of some of the game's greats, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Tiger Woods. "They're icons of the game, and for Tiger and I to have our own events and carry on their traditions is pretty neat," said Love, whose 20 PGA Tour victories include the 1997 PGA Championship.