Vets Lose Northern Trust Open Tickets In Ongoing VA Land Fight

Gale Holland of the LA Times reports on the latest issue to arise over the ongoing battle over utilizing the vast Veterans Administration property in West Los Angeles. Among the components tussled over are the on-site golf course, UCLA baseball's longtime home stadium and now, parking for the Northern Trust Open.

With the Department of Veterans Affairs' last minute canceling of its longtime (30-plus years?) contract for tournament parking, the PGA Tour has rescinded the remaining free passes for vets included in the contract.

“The VA has voided our contract, and the tickets were part of our contract,” said tournament spokeswoman Laura Neal.

“They’re saying, ‘I’m going to take my marbles and go home,’” said veterans activist Robert Rosebrock. “The tournament was a very big thing, veterans really looked forward to it.”

The 800 tickets distributed to vets to date will be honored, according to the tour. The story suggests a new parking home for the event will be announced soon.

More fun will be to see how this gets portrayed in the local press. The tour will, undoubtedly, get lambasted though it's hard to blame them for taking a tough stance with such a bizarre last minute move after such a long relationshp with the VA.