Hardy looks forward to 84 Lumber Classic
FARMINGTON – It was Joe Hardy’s dream to host a PGA Tour event. That dream was realized when Hardy first brought the 84 Lumber Classic to his posh resort three years ago.
And now, even as the tournament readies for its final curtain call, Hardy refuses to mourn its passing.
“I don’t think it’s going to be the end of the book, maybe just one chapter,” he said. “I don’t want to emphasize the demise. What’s the point of that?”
The tournament will begin unofficially today with a pro-am and the first of several practice rounds. First-round play begins Thursday in what will be the fourth – and final – 84 Lumber Classic.
After finally finding a home at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa – the tournament alternated between sponsors and sites in eastern and western Pennsylvania its first three years – the 84 Lumber Classic quickly built a reputation among Tour players as one of the season’s most looked-forward-to events.
Golfers, along with their families, were given the royal treatment during their week-long stay at the resort. The quality of the field improved each year, and millions of dollars were poured into Mystic Rock in an attempt to bring the course up to par with other Tour venues.
“When we first announced we were going to have the tournament, people were saying, ‘Joe’s just having this thing for a couple of his golfing buddies,'” Hardy said. “That was the perception. But when it was announced we weren’t going to have the tournament any more, oh my! I think people were starting to realize what they had here.”
The announcement came in April, three months after the Tour unveiled its new schedule on which the 84 Lumber Classic would be moved to June, a week after the U.S. Open, for six straight years beginning in 2007.
The 84 Lumber Classic was to be part of the new FedEx Cup format, modeled after NASCAR’S Nextel Cup Chase, with each tournament being worth a certain amount of points that would lead to playoffs over the final weeks of the season.
The move would have given the 84 Lumber Classic a better chance of attracting more top players, including European stars such as Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia, who usually don’t play many events in the United States following golf’s final major, the PGA Championship.
It also would have taken the event from the fall – a time when western Pennsylvanians are football crazy – to the beginning of summer, when there isn’t much going on in the area other than professional baseball.
But it was decided in mid-April that 84 Lumber Co. would no longer sponsor the tournament after this year, instead choosing to focus its resources on expanding the company’s business ventures.
That decision may have signaled the end of the 84 Lumber Classic, but Hardy said Nemacolin Woodlands isn’t turning its back on golf.
“There’s a PGA Tour, PGA of America and a USGA,” Hardy said. “We’re working on future tournaments and events. I really think the best is yet to come.
“You just don’t leave it all behind. There will be some type of an opening coming up, and we’ll take advantage of it. I’m dead sure of that. There’s going to be a hereafter.”
Hardy said the event’s departure will not only affect him, Nemacolin Woodlands’ staff, the countless volunteers who made the tournament possible and golf fans, but Fayette County in general as well.
“It’s had a great impact locally,” Hardy said. “It’s a national event, and it’s the same thing for a town when they bring in a professional baseball team, it’s a very similar feeling. There’s a sort of pride there. You go down to Uniontown and see all the streets have their little signs up. It’s a positive thing, a contemporary thing.
“It was neat to do it here in Fayette County. This place probably should have been built in Colorado or Florida, but I like the idea of being here. I think local people are starting to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t too bad.’
“The improvement every year has been enjoyable for me. Our first year, we thought we were great, but the improvements we’ve made … To see the thing get to the point that it has this year is phenomenal. Where would you get a field like this in whatever you’re doing? Whether it’s a marble contest, whatever it is. We started from scratch and it soared.
“It is truly a classic.”