Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
PGA Pro Retief Goosen tees off on hole 1 during the Drummond Company Celebrity Pro-Am of the Regions Tradition benefiting Children’s of Alabama in May 2023 at Greystone Golf and Country Club.
Greystone Golf and Country Club is busy preparing for the 2024 Regions Tradition, one of five major championships on the PGA Tour Champions men’s professional senior golf tour.
This year’s tournament is scheduled for May 8-12, with the celebrity Pro-Am taking place on Wednesday, May 8, and four days of competitive golf May 9-12.
Seventy-eight professional golfers are scheduled to participate, including Steve Stricker, who won three out of the last four Regions Tradition tournaments and came in second in 2021 and 2018.
Other golfers in the lineup include Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Jim Furyk, John Daly, Miguel Angel Jimenez, David Toms, Mike Weir and Tom Lehman. Golfers with Alabama ties who are scheduled to attend include Florence native Stewart Cink, former University of Alabama golfers Jason Bohn and Dicky Pride and former University of South Alabama golfer Heath Slocum.
The purse for the tournament this year is $2.6 million, up by $100,000, and the first-place winner gets $375,000, tournament director George Shaw said.
New Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer is scheduled to participate in the celebrity Pro-Am, along with Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze, UAB football coach Trent Dilfer, Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, country music star Riley Green, nationally syndicated radio host Bill "Bubba" Bussey and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
The gates open for the celebrity Pro-Am at 7 a.m. May 8, with tee times stretching from 6:50 to 9 a.m. and noon to 2:10 p.m. at the first and tenth holes.
For competitive play Thursday-Sunday, the gates open at 8 a.m., and play is scheduled to run from 9:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Live coverage on The Golf Channel is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 4-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Play is being extended later than usual on Saturday and Sunday because Sunday is Mother’s Day, and organizers want to allow people more time to have lunch with their mothers before coming to the tournament or watching it on TV, Shaw said.
The live concert that normally has been held on Saturday night is being moved to Friday night and will take place immediately after play ends (estimated at about 4:30 p.m.) at the White Claw Watering Hole. This year, The Black Jacket Symphony is the chosen band, and the group will play a variety of classic rock hits from different artists, Shaw said.
A new feature this year is the Casamigos Club, which is a tent with prime viewing of the 18th green and upgraded food and craft cocktail offerings. People can get a ticket with access to the grounds and to the Casamigos Club for $85, but food and drinks will cost extra, Shaw said.
Most prime viewing tents cost much more and usually are bought up by corporations, Shaw said. Tournament organizers wanted to provide some less pricey options to give individuals better viewing opportunities, he said.
This year, there also will be a ladies long drive contest after regular play ends on Thursday. The competition will feature 15 women who qualified at the driving simulator at the PGA Tour Superstore in Inverness Plaza in April.
Estimating attendance for the tournament is challenging because so many people with homes along the course have large parties, but Shaw said approximately 70,000 to 75,000 people came last year.
The Coca-Cola Spectators Village and its food trucks were so popular last year that organizers are adding several more food trucks this year, Shaw said. Some of those scheduled to come include Krazy Good BBQ, Eugene’s Hot Chicken, Wasabi Juan’s and Seeds Coffee.
The 2023 Regions Tradition raised more than $1.3 million for charity, and the tournament has raised more than $23 million since it started as the Bruno’s Memorial Classic in 1992, Shaw said. Children’s of Alabama hospital is the largest beneficiary, but many other nonprofits receive money through the Birdies for Charity program.
General admission tickets for the tournament cost $30, but children ages 15 and younger get in free with a ticketed adult. Group ticket packages are available from $425 to $1,500.
For more information or to buy tickets, to go regionstradition.com.
