Wild and Wonderful West Virginia hosts Nationwide Tour Players Cup

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Sam Snead, the World Golf Hall of Famer and PGA TOUR all-time wins leader, is smiling down on his secondary home state this summer as West Virginia takes a central role in making the Nationwide Tour an even larger part of PGA TOUR golf.

Raven at Snowshoe

Big Bend Golf Club, Kanawha County

Twin Falls

Glade Springs

Twisted Gun Golf Course

The Nationwide Tour's first $1 million tournament -- the Nationwide Tour Players Cup -- will be held July 7-13 at the Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, W.Va., located north of Clarksburg in the northern part of the state. The event includes the top 144 players available from the Nationwide Tour money list prior to the tournament and offers $180,000 to the winner, virtually assuring him a 2009 PGA TOUR card as a part of "THE 25." The second $1 million tournament -- the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch near Dallas -- concludes the season in early November.

"We couldn't be happier that the Nationwide Tour has selected West Virginia to host its marquee in-season event," W.Va. Governor Joe Manchin said in January. "TOUR officials were impressed with the beauty of our state and the quality of our people. The great experience the Nationwide Tour had in our state in the past led to West Virginia being chosen to host this outstanding tournament."

West Virginia partnered with the PGA TOUR from the tournament's outset in 2004 for the Pete Dye West Virginia Classic, with particular emphasis on the coal industry, which drives the state's economy. This year's primary sponsors include Arch Coal, Consol and Foundation Coal. The Pete Dye Golf Club design features remnants of coal-mining activity, including exposed, strip-mined high walls, a rotary coal tipple, coal-laden mine cars, a cart path through a once-deep mine and waterfalls that originate from deep mining activities.

Manchin was particularly impressed when he met 2005 champion Jason Gore during his victory; the same year Gore contended in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and won three times on the Nationwide Tour to advance immediately to the PGA TOUR. Manchin foresaw the growth potential for the state's tourism industry with the significant exposure of four-day coverage on GOLF CHANNEL, including a reach as far away as Asia, Europe and Latin America. The economic impact is expected to total approximately $5 million.

Golf fans will not only get to see the picturesque Pete Dye Golf Club, West Virginia's No. 1-ranked course, but also golf and travel locations within the state and places to live, work and relocate.

West Virginia's golf history focuses on the southeastern part of the state. One of the first organized golf clubs in America was formed at Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs in 1884. The nine-hole course is still existent, after a 1994 refurbishment, complete with sand tees and required use of hickory shafted clubs and gutta percha balls. The National Hickory Championship is played there every summer.

White Sulphur Springs is also the location of the most famous golf and golfer in West Virginia. The Greenbrier Resort hosted the 1979 Ryder Cup and the 1994 Solheim Cup and is one of the top resorts in the country. Snead was born across the state line in neighboring Hot Springs, Va., and grew up playing at The Homestead. But he also spent time as a youth learning the game as a caddie at The Greenbrier and won his first of 82 career PGA TOUR events there -- the 1936 West Virginia Closed Pro on the Old White Course. Snead was honored as The Greenbrier's Golf Pro Emeritus years before his death in 2002. He made his 37th and final hole-in-one on the 18th at the Greenbrier Course in 1995 at age 83.

West Virginia offers more than 100 golf courses throughout the state, with renowned course architects such as Dye, Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Robert Trent Jones and George Cobb.

One of the most touted courses and resorts is just 30 minutes south of the Pete Dye Golf Club at the Stonewall Resort where Palmer designed a course in 2002. The Roanoke, W.Va., course is built adjacent to Stonewall Jackson Lake, the state's second-largest lake, in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains with par 3s that play over water and par 4s across wetlands with various elevation changes.

The Pipestem State Park in southeastern West Virginia includes an 18-hole course designed by Geoffrey Cornish with views of the Bluestone Canyon and a par-3 course.

The West Virginia Department of Commerce is offering a chance to win a golf getaway to either Stonewall or Pipestem during the Nationwide Tour Players Cup by visiting this site.

Among the other top courses in the state are:
• The Raven Course at Snowshoe Mountain, designed by Gary Player
• Glade Springs Resort in southern West Virginia near I-77 and I-64, with 36 holes and Jim Jamieson School of Golf
• Stony Lick Course at The Woods Resort in northeastern West Virginia
• Oglebay Resort in northwest West Virginia near Wheeling, featuring courses designed by Palmer and Jones
• Twisted Gun Golf Course, built on a reclaimed coal mine in southern West Virginia
• Canaan Valley Resort, rated one of America's best parks
• State Park courses Cacapon Resort, a Jones design; Hawks Nest, which includes a nine-hole executive course; and Twin Falls Resort, which has an 18-hole track with nines designed by Cornish and Cobb.

For more information on the Nationwide Tour Players Cup, go to Playerscup.net. For more on West Virginia golf, visit wvgolfing.com.