Episode #2 of The Yug Show was filmed yesterday, but due to technical difficulties I wasn’t able to post it. Here are the show notes:
Good morning, golf fans. It’s Wednesday, April 23 and this is the Yug Show with Chris Rogers. The EDS Byron Nelson Championship starts tomorrow. It is the PGA Tour’s eighth longest running event going all the way back to WWII 1944. When Byron Nelson won the inaugural iteration of this event, it was titled the Texas Victory Open. Personally, I would rather win something by that name than the current one. I’m sure the money is better now, though!
Since Nelson’s victory in 1944, the tournament has had the following names:
* Dallas Open
* Dallas Invitational
* Dallas Centennial Open
* Texas International Open
* Dallas Open Invitational
* Byron Nelson Golf Classic — In 1968 the tournament was the first PGA Tour event to be named after a professional golfer.
* GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
* GTE Byron Nelson Classic
* Verizon Byron Nelson Classic
* CURRENT: EDS Byron Nelson Championship
I can just imagine the tournament organizers sitting in a room for hours debating whether Open or Invitation should come first in the name. Whether it should be a Classic or a Championship. Classic, of course, has a retro air to it. Championship clearly not retro, but rather more weighty.
After all of this, the current sponsors are upset with their position in the PGA Tour schedule, which isn’t drawing the top players. They’re threatening to withdraw their sponsorship.
So, who will the next sponsor be if EDS bails?
Surely the title will have Byron Nelson in it. But Classic or Championship? Open or Invitational? What about the Byron Nelson Open Invitational Classic Championship?
I’ll preview the actual tournament and players tomorrow morning. Swing hard and putt well.