RETURN TO NEWS

Charity Boosting Event Moving to Ross Bridge 12/20/2005

Publication: Birmingham News
Author: Michael Tomberlin

Regions Bank will announce today it will be the new title sponsor of the former Bruno's Memorial Classic as the Champions Tour golf tournament moves from Greystone to the Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa.

Sources close to the event Monday confirmed the involvement of Regions Financial Corp., parent company of Regions Bank, in the tourney at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course that opened at the resort Sept. 1. .

A Regions spokeswoman said she had no comment when asked about the company's role in the event. Tournament officials also would not confirm the title sponsor change. .

The sponsorship and venue changes are significant for what has been one of the most successful and popular events on the Champions Tour of the Professional Golf Association. For 14 years, the tournament was sponsored by the Bruno's grocery chain, which was once based in Birmingham. .

The tournament was held at Greystone Golf & Country Club each year. It has raised $8.3 million for charities in the state over the years. .

The Bruno family founded the tournament. However, on Dec. 11, 1991, three weeks after announcing the tournament, Angelo Bruno, his brother Lee Bruno, five other company executives and two pilots were killed in a crash of a company plane near Rome, Ga. .

The Bruno's Classic then added "Memorial" to its name. It maintained the name and Bruno's lead sponsorship through several ownership changes of the company. Recently, Bruno's was acquired by Mauldin, S.C.-based Bi-Lo LLC. .

The new owners continue to operate Bruno's, Food World and Food Fair stores but the company is no longer based in Birmingham. The company's future role in the tournament is unclear. .

Ronnie Bruno, the last of the family to manage the supermarket chain, is now head of the Bruno Event Team, which runs the tournament. .
Gain for Ross Bridge:

Hosting the tournament will be a big boost for the new golf course as well as for the Ross Bridge Resort & Spa. Retirement Systems of Alabama owns the course and the conference center through its subsidiaries. .

RSA head David Bronner on Monday said the Ross Bridge development was created for such events as the Champions tournament. .
"

I think it will be a spectacular setting," he said. "I don't know of a better course that exists in the country for a tournament because it was designed so the viewing public can see so much. It's extremely viewer-friendly." .

Bronner said he expects the entire area to get an economic boost from the tournament being in the Ross Bridge area, not the least of which is RSA's Robert Trent Jones Oxmoor Valley, a group of three golf courses about two miles away. .

"It's going to bring in thousands of people who not only like to watch golf but like to play golf," Bronner said. "It generates excitement and that's what you're looking for." .

Bronner said because Ross Bridge is still a young development, it will give a different feel from Greystone, where most of the residential lots along the golf courses already have houses in place. .
"You have all of the components of new growth," he said.

A media advisory issued Monday for today's news conference at Ross Bridge does not refer to the tournament as the "Bruno's Memorial Classic," but calls it "the 2005 Birmingham-Hoover Champions Tour event." .

Scheduled to be on hand for the announcement today are Champions tour pros and Alabama natives Hubert Green and Jerry Pate, Champions Tour President Rick George and Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos. .
Ross Bridge is in the city limits of Hoover, as is Greystone.