ALAN BLONDIN

ON GOLF

The Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour is returning with significant changes to its events and likely the nature of its fields.

The tour will kick off its second season with a 20-player tournament Wednesday at Burning Ridge Golf Club, and will be expanding tournaments from mostly one-day events in 2006 to two and three days this year.

"One of the biggest reasons is the players wanted to see multiple-day events," Tour owner and director Steve Clark said. "The second thing is we're trying to make it more in-line with the developmental tours. A lot of our guys try to qualify for PGA Tour events and Nationwide events."

Tournaments were held on Monday and/or Tuesday last year, and the one-day events attracted a number of Carolinas PGA pros because they were able to get a day off work on occasion. But the tournaments missed mini-tour players who attempted Monday qualifiers.

Events will be held between Wednesday and Friday this year, likely attracting more touring pros and fewer club pros. "It's seems like we're getting more of the guys who are playing nothing but professional golf to play the tour," Clark said. "And we're hunting those guys. We want them to play the tour."

Players teeing off Wednesday hail from Ohio, Alabama, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and the Carolinas. The entry deadline is 2 p.m. today.

The tour is also adding a separate senior division this year with its own purse, and Clark hopes to have a few pro-ams affiliated with events to raise money for charity. The GSPGT is a non-profit organization and Clark is seeking sponsors. He said his architectural design company, Alpine Professional Design, helped fund the tour last year and will again be a major sponsor, and Sundog Eyewear and Bridgestone Golf have been added as equipment sponsors. Clark said he needs $1,500 more per event for them to break even.

"[The tour] got to be a strain on the company last year and it got to be a strain on me trying to keep both above water," he said. "It puts a lot of pressure on us to go out and find sponsors."

The schedule is being expanded from 21 to 29 events and the tour's annual dues have been increased from $225 to $500. Tournament entry fees are between $350 and $450 for members. Clark has 20 annual members for 2007 and hopes to surpass last year's top field of 38 players. This week's opening event, based on 20 players, has a purse of $5,065 with $1,750 going to the winner.

Most events will be held on the Strand, but a few will be held in Columbia and Pinehurst, N.C., during busy golf season months of March-April and September-October.

Clark, a former mini-tour player and Sunbelt Senior Tour member, played in his events in 2006 but will instead be a tour director and rules official this year.

Matt Veltman returns as a tournament director and Clark has added Lowell Counce, a former Gateway Tour official, to the tour's staff.