The Loop

Senior Players Championship Could Move in 2010

October 05, 2009

TIMONIUM, Md. -- The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship could be on the move in 2010. Held at Baltimore CC Five Farms since 2007 after many years in Dearborn, Mich., the tournament could wind up at redesigned TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in Potomac, Md., longtime site of a PGA Tour event when it was called TPC at Avenel.

Mike Stevens, president of the Champions Tour, said it will be up to Baltimore CC's board to decide whether the Senior Players re-locates for a year, but it is clear the tour has a strong interest in bringing the event to TPC Potomac, which reopened earlier this year after a $25 million facelift.

The fact that the AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods is going to be played at Aronimink outside Philadelphia the next two years while Congressional CC gets tweaked for the 2011 U.S. Open there also figures in the equation to bring the seniors to the D.C. area.

"We have a TPC over there, it's a nice course and they did a great job with the re-do," Stevens said. "With Tiger's event going to Aronimink for the next couple of years, there's a hole in that marketplace for golf. We feel it would be a great opportunity for us to showcase the TPC and maybe get some additional momentum for this tournament."

TPC at Avenel wasn't a hit with tour players when it hosted the Kemper Open/FBR Open/Booz Allen Classic, but Stevens, who played the course last Friday, believes that Steve Wenzloff and Jim Hardy solved the design flaws with their renovation. Moving the Senior Players out of the fall is also under consideration.

"Any time golf hits football season, it struggles, said Stevens, noting small galleries for the third round, which went up against home football games by area college teams Maryland and  Navy. The tournament drew a larger crowd on Sunday, and the fans got to see a tight, dramatic finish with Jay Haas shooting 64 to edge Tom Watson by one stroke on the A.W. Tillinghast-designed course.

*-- Bill Fields *