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By John Bednarowski
Marietta Daily Journal Sports Editor
A little piece of Marietta and Cobb County died Monday afternoon.
With the announcement that the PGA Tour was eliminating the AT&T Classic from its annual schedule, the 41-year relationship between the Atlanta suburbs came to an end.
What the people of the Atlanta Classic Foundation, Atlanta Country Club and the citizens of Cobb County built into a flourishing regular stop on the PGA Tour slowly fizzled away once it moved to the TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth.
And now, it's gone for good.
"It was just fun to be around the pros," said Atlanta Country Club head professional Bill Johnstone, who was head pro the final three years the tournament was played at ACC. "You had a chance to watch and listen to them tell stories. It was always an (enthusiastic) atmosphere. It was a true community event where the players stayed at the members' homes."
And with all due respect to the Briny Bairds, Gavin Coles and this year's AT&T Classic champion, UGA grad Ryuji Imada, the tournament's heyday brought the best players every year. Not a one-and-done like what Tiger Woods pulled winning the tournament in 1998 and never coming back.
The winners' list at ACC reads like a who's who of PGA Tour history. Bob Charles won the inaugural event in 1967 and was followed by the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin (twice), Tom Watson, Calvin Peete, Tom Kite (twice), former Wheeler High School standout Bob Tway, Corey Pavin and even John Daly.
Of course, probably the most popular champion at ACC was Marietta's own Larry Nelson, who rolled to a seven-shot victory over Andy Bean in 1980 and then triumphed again eight years later when he birdied the 18th hole to beat Chip Beck.
"I have a lot of fond memories," Nelson said. "The one I remember most is when I won in 1988. I had the long-time caddie master from Atlanta Country Club caddying for me. His name was Pat. I was happy to be able to win that week because when I came down No. 18 that last day, there were probably as many people rooting for him as there were for me."
It was a different time on the PGA Tour.
"All the tournaments that had been around for a while had a hometown feel to them," Nelson said, alluding to tourneys such as the Colonial in Dallas, the Greater Greensboro (N.C.) Open and the Atlanta Classic. "The tournament lost it when it moved from Atlanta Country Club."
George "Dixie" Duncan was the man approached in 1965 to make the Atlanta Classic a reality. He and a group of 50 people contributed $1,000 apiece toward the project and the Atlantic Classic Foundation was born. From there, they had to find a golf course willing to host the tournament.
"We went around to a number of different clubs," said Duncan, who just finished his 41st year with the foundation, from his St. Simons Island home Monday. "But we couldn't (find a host), so that's when we decided to build the golf course."
The search for property led the group to Cobb County, where they could afford to build at the time and purchased the land from the King Plow Co., and began construction on the course just north of the Chattahoochee River in east Cobb. Shortly thereafter, the Atlanta Country Club was born, the foundation's golf tournament learning curve began and the Atlanta Classic debuted.
"I traveled all over the country to other tournaments, because we didn't know how to run one," Duncan said. "We had to learn about where to put the ropes and everything else."
What they learned turned into a chaotic art form. It was never easy getting people in and out of the residential area around the ACC. Tournament officials and volunteers parked spectators on the area sports fields, lugged every piece of equipment, food and anything else that could be imagined through the neighborhood, but each year they found a way to make it work.
As the tour evolved through the 1970s and '80s, the dynamics of tournament golf began to change. More television exposure led to bigger purses and the necessity of title sponsors.
"We only had two (sponsors)," Duncan said. "Georgia Pacific came first and then we signed with BellSouth in 1988. That was supposed to go through 2010."
By the time the '90s arrived, the PGA Tour decided to build Sugarloaf in Gwinnett County. In 1996, the Atlanta Country Club hosted its final BellSouth Classic. The tournament had outgrown its home.
"First, we ran out of parking," Duncan said. "But it all came down to money. At Atlanta Country Club, we had 11 skyboxes and one corporate tent. At Sugarloaf, we got 44 skyboxes and three corporate tents and we didn't have to pay the $175,000 a year rent to the country club."
Over the last few years at the Sugarloaf, the tournament became sterile. There was no hometown feel and because of a date change to mid-May to take advantage of better weather, they fell victim to the schedule. The tournament was either the week after the Players Championship or the week before the Memorial, not a week to draw the best fields.
The final nail may have been the Tour Championship permanently being at East Lake. The fact Atlanta would still have golf made the Classic expendable and the PGA Tour took advantage.
"I really kind of feel sad for Atlanta," Nelson said. "It loses a 154-man field for one of 30. But even though it's a good-size city, I guess it's difficult to support two tournaments."
Ask Duncan, and he believes PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem did very little to help find a new sponsor for the tournament. And very few people believe the idea of having a Champions Tour event at Sugarloaf in 2009 will make up for the loss.
The only thing for sure is the tournament isn't coming back. And neither is the 30 years Marietta and Cobb County donated to make it work.
sportseditor@mdjonline.com
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