A Battlefield Defection

Thanks to Four-putt for that header. You shoulda been a writer. Oh wait, you are.

So, does everyone see what I'm reading here, no International in 2007, either? Wow.

MEDIA ADVISORY – THE INTERNATIONAL

PLEASE JOIN PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM AND JACK A. VICKERS FOR A PRESS CONFERENCE REGARDING THE INTERNATIONAL.

MR. FINCHEM AND MR. VICKERS WILL ADDRESS THE FACT THAT THE INTERNATIONAL, STAGED AT CASTLE PINES GOLF CLUB SINCE 1986, WILL NO LONGER REMAIN AS PART OF THE PGA TOUR SCHEDULE, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

Update on 2007-02-08 01:11 by Geoff

Doug Ferguson confirms and says Washington is back in the cards for an event. Albeit, one on short notice.

The cancellation leaves a hole in the PGA Tour schedule on July 5-8, but tour officials have been working on a contingency plan over the last month and are expected to announce a replacement by April.

The leading candidate is Washington, the largest U.S. market without a PGA Tour event. The nation's capital had a tour event since 1968, but that presumably ended when title sponsor Booz Allen bailed out last year because it was not part of the FedExCup portion of the PGA Tour schedule.

Other markets under consideration are Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Kansas City.

The tour official said there was sponsorship interest in several major markets, although none of those sponsors was interested in the International.