For the 37th time in 38 years, the Symetra Tour has included an Albany area stop on its schedule, but will have a new title sponsor and golf course.
The Twin Bridges Championship will be held July 23-25 at the Pinehaven Country Club, ending the 17-year run of Capital Hills at Albany.
The Symetra (formerly Futures) Tour, the official developmental circuit of the LPGA, will bring 144 women professional golfers to the area to compete for a record $175.000 over three days.
“We were looking for a course that could accommodate some of the things that we needed outside of the golf course — a women’s locker room, a room specifically dedicated toward the LPGA staff that is on site for the week, an area specifically dedicated for the players," local tournament director Jim Miller said. "All those were vitally important.”
Pinehaven, which offers all of those amenities, will be the fifth Capital Region course that has been host to the Capital Region event, following Town of Colonie (1984-98), Western Turnpike (2000-01), Orchard Creek (2002-03) and Capital Hills (2004-20). There was no tournament in 1999.
“It was a difficult decision for me to make," Miller said of the course change. "I basically grew up and worked in Albany, brought the tournament here in 2004, and we’ve been there for 17 years. It was the longest-running tournament at a golf course out of the 37 years that it as been here. (Capital Hills head pro) Steve Vatter is one of my best friends, and I worked with Roger (Martel, restaurant owner) and Scott (Gallup, course superintendent). Scott has gone above and beyond a golf course superintendent in getting the course ready for a professional tournament.
“Sometimes change is good. We had a great run there. I’m not ruling anything out in the future, but I’m looking forward to going to Pinehaven, going to a private course, and it’s a great course. It will be a great setup for the women.”
Last year's tournament, originally scheduled for May 29-31, was canceled because of COVID-19, but it was replaced by a single-day pro-am Aug. 29 at Capital Hills. Kennedy Swedick, a then-13-year-old from Altamont, was invited to play and shot a respectable 5-over-par 76.
As a result, Miller has given Swedick, who won the Section II championship as an eighth-grader and was a finalist in the national Drive, Chip and Putt Championship in 2017, one of his two sponsor exemptions for the tournament.
“I saw that she could compete in a one-day pro-am with the other professionals," Miller said. "I’m looking forward to see how she does in a three-day tournament. It’s great for the region to have somebody local, that was born here, as an up-and-coming player.”
Miller said he has not made a commitment on the second sponsor's exemption.
The purse is $50,000 higher than 2019, when the event was last played as the CDPHP Open. The health-care provider remains on board as a contributing sponsor, and the tournament will benefit its charity, CDPHP The Foundation.
The increase was “with support of the new title sponsor as well as the LPGA,” according to Miller.
Miller said he hopes to bring back a country concert during the tournament on either Friday or Saturday night at the course, but that will depend on how quickly the state eases restrictions on public gatherings.
"Once the state starts to loosen their restrictions on entertainment activities, I’ll gauge better whether we can hold one there," Miller said. "We’ll hold it right at the golf course. They have a great amphitheater down by their pool. The plan is we’ll be able to hold it. I think definitely we’ll be able to have spectators there. Whether we can get to a point that we can hold a concert with 1,000-1,500 people, I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Kennedy Swedick, who shot a 5-over-par 76 as a 13-year-old in the CDPHP Pro-Am last August, has been given a sponsor's exemption to the 2021 Symetra Tour's Twin Bridges Championship at Pinehaven. (Jim Franco/special to the Times Union.)
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