Jonathan Randolph says the True South Classic competition will be tough
Golfers from all over the world are heading to the Annandale Golf Club, in Madison, where the PGA Tour has stopped for the only professional tournament in the area, the True South Classic, slated to start from Thursday, July 19, 2012.
Last year, the tournament was in jeopardy of being discontinued because of the expiry of the sponsorship contract with the Viking Corp. The company declined to renew its deal with the tournament officials in 2011.
Therefore, Randy Watkins, Tournament Director, had to work really hard to save the event and found new sponsors to stage the event this year.
Despite its schedule parallel to the British Open, the third major event of the year, many good players have confirmed their participation in the event.
Jonathan Randolph, a former Jackson Prep, has once again showed his interest to play in this year’s edition, which will be his third start in the tournament.
According to him, the field will be really strong and it will not be an easy job to take the top spot on the leaderboard.
Moreover, he said that the tournament provides grounds for the upcoming superstars. He supported his comments by stating the example of Bill Haas, who won the FedEx Cup two years right after he won the tournament in Mississippi.
"You know, I think it's a really solid field, not a whole lot of names that jump off the page at a lot of people but if you follow golf, you know everybody here,” he said.
“The guy who wins this tournament usually goes on and he's a great star. You know, Billy Haas won the FedEx Cup a couple of years after he won this one. Some people think its diamonds in the rough, but there are a whole lot more diamonds out here than there
is rough”.
For the last few years, the tournament has been a great success among the local golf fans in Mississippi as well as the outsiders. Last year, it was estimated that the local economy benefitted by around $22 million with the successful staging of the event.
Chris Kirk was the winner last year with a 22-under par tournament score.
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