The Region Tradition returns to the famed Greystone Golf and Country Club where Golf Town Ambassador Mike Weir is hoping for a strong performance.
The Regions Tradition, the first of five major championships on the PGA TOUR Champions schedule in 2022 is set to take place May 12-15 at the Founders Course at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. The event, which was canceled in 2020 and saw limited crowds last year due to COVID-19, will be back in full force this year with more than 50,000 spectators expected to take in the week’s golf.
Our Ambassador Mike Weir will be one of two Canadians in the strong field this week in Alabama that include Bernhard Langer, Ernie Else, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Darren Clarke, Kenny Perry, David Toms, Tom Lehman and many others. Defending champion Alex Cejka will also be in attendance, while Steve Stricker, who won two years ago and finished runner-up last year, has also just returned to action from an illness and could be there as well.
The total purse for this year’s tournament is $2.5 million, with $375,000 going to the winner.
What You Need To Know
The Contenders
Canada’s own Mike Weir comes into the year’s first PGA TOUR Champions major on the back of four top-25 finishes this year. In 2021, Weir finished T25 at the Region Traditions, 18 shots back of first-time PGA TOUR Champions winner Alex Cejka. Cejka’s 2021 win came in a playoff over perennial favourite Steve Stricker (who won the event in 2019). Since moving to The Founders Course at Greystone Golf and Country Club in 2016, a non-American has won the event four times and this should bode well for the international players teeing it up this week in Alabama.
2022 Season Thus Far
So far this season, Steven Alker leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings, while Jimenez is second, Goosen is third, Langer is fourth, Scott Parel is fifth, Stephen Ames is sixth, Lee Janzen is seventh, Tim Petrovic is eighth Jerry Kelly is ninth and Cejka is 10th.
The Venue
The Founders Course at Greystone Golf and Country Club opened for play in 1991 and was designed by famed architect Bob Cupp and two-time major winner Hubert Green. The course hosted the Bruno’s Memorial Classic on the PGA TOUR Champions Tour from 1992 to 2005. The Founders Course at Greystone Golf and Country Club has hosted of the Regions Tradition since 2016. The par-72, 7,249-yerd venue has seen changes to the course over the past couple years, including: nine rebuilt or modified greens; three new tees and the addition of numerous bunkers.
Over the past 30 years, the Regions Tradition has raised more than $20 million for charities, including about $1.3 million last year. The primary charity beneficiary is Children’s of Alabama hospital, the only medical centre in the state dedicated to care and treatment of children.