CHRYSLER CLASSIC MEDIA DAY PRE-TOURNAMENT NOTES

GREENSBORO, N.C. – – The 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro begins two weeks from today with the AIG Support Our Troops Pro-Am. Pre-tournament notes are below:
■ New Board Members: The Greensboro Jaycees Charitable Foundation Board has named six new members recently bringing the board that oversees Chrysler Classic tournament operations to 20. The latest Piedmont Triad business leaders added are: Steve Bowden from Greensboro, J.B. Davis from Asheboro, Allen Gant from Burlington, Henry Stokes from Winston-Salem, John Swofford from Greensboro and Alf Webster from High Point.
■ John Daly Concert Returns: After a very successful debut appearance last year, the John Daly and Friends concert featuring Edwin McCain and Johnny Lee returns for a second engagement. Country and Western star Doug Stone will also join the event. This year’s concert is set for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at The Flying Anvil at 219 West Lewis St. (near the intersection of Eugene and West Lee Streets) in downtown Greensboro. Tickets are $40 and include two good-any-day Chrysler Classic tickets, a $50 value. This event is open to the public; however all patrons must be at least 21 years old. Tickets can be purchased through the Chrysler Classic office at (336) 379-1570.
■ Champions Return: Numerous former champions of the Chrysler Classic are in this year’s field including each of the last three. 1985 winner Joey Sindelar, ‘90 champion Steve Elkington, ‘91 champion Mark Brooks, ’92 champion Davis Love III, ’98 winner Trevor Dodds, ’99 winner Jesper Parnevik, 2003 champion Shigeki Murayama, ’04 winner Brent Geiberger and defending champion K.J. Choi will all play in the Piedmont Triad’s PGA TOUR event this year.
■ Young Guns: Many of the golfers in the current Chrysler Classic field are either 30- years-old or younger. Among them are Jonathan Byrd, Tim Clark, Lucas Glover, Bill Haas, Will MacKenzie, Ryan Moore, Joe Ogilvie, Sean O’Hair, Ryan Palmer, Carl Pettersson, Vaughn Taylor, D.J. Trahan, Camilo Villegas, Bubba Watson and Brett Wetterich.
■ The Haas Family Still Represented: The Haas family has been a regular fixture in the Piedmont Triad’s PGA TOUR event since before Jay Haas first teed it up here in 1973. Though Jay – who has played in 22 prior tournaments – will not participate in 2006, his son, Bill, will play the Chrysler Classic for the first time as a professional; he played here in 2002 as an amateur while a student at Wake Forest. Jay’s brother Jerry is the golf coach at Wake Forest and played in the tournament in 1990, ’91 and ‘95. Jay’s uncle, Bob Goalby, won the tournament in 1958.
■ 2006 Tournament Winners in the field: Seven of the golfers currently committed to the Chrysler Classic field have already won PGA TOUR events this year: Aaron Baddeley won the Verizon Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C.; Chris Couch won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans; Brett Wetterich won the EDS Byron Nelson Classic; Carl Pettersson won The Memorial Tournament; John Senden won the John Deere Classic; John Rollins won the BC Open and Will MacKenzie won the Reno-Tahoe Open.
■ AIG Supports Out Troops: AIG and AIG United Guaranty are teaming once again to salute the brave men and women who wear the uniforms of The United States Armed Forces. AIG will host 200 members of the Armed Forces based in North Carolina for each of the four rounds of the Chrysler Classic. The Military Guests will be based in the AIG “Support Our Troops” tent adjacent to the 18th fairway.
The 2006 Chrysler Classic is set for Oct. 2-8 at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. The tournament thanks DaimlerChrysler for 11 great years of partnership and Premier Partners, AIG, Harris Teeter and VF Corporation for their support. Additional tournament information is available at www.chryslerclassic.org or through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570.