CANONSBURG, Pa.,None — The Mylan Classic kicked off at Southpointe Country Club on Monday with the Taggart Global Celebrity Pro-Am.
The Classic, set for Aug. 29 through Sept. 4, is one of 26 events on the PGA TOUR's Nationwide Tour schedule in 2011.
The Celebrity Pro-Am featured an impressive roster of prominent Pittsburgh sports personalities, including former Steelers Robin Cole, L.C. Greenwood and Merrill Hoge, former Pirate stars Bill Mazeroski and Kent Tekulve, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma and Penguins great, Mario Lemieux.
The Classic, which made a very successful debut last year, has a full slate of clinics, concerts and other activities planned throughout the week for golf fans and families alike.
The event will draw 156 Nationwide Tour professionals from as many as 20 countries vying for one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards that will be awarded to the leading money winners at the end of the year.
The purse is $600,000, with $108,000 going to the winner. Last year's champion Kevin Kisner is in the field this week, along with fan favorites John Daly and Greensburg native Rocco Mediate.
Raw Video: Daly, Mediate Tee Off At Southpointe
Two-time major championship winner Daly, who played and won on the Nationwide Tour in 1990, will compete in the Mylan Classic for the first time in 2011. He has amassed five career PGA TOUR victories, plus four international wins.
Mediate has six wins on the PGA TOUR over the course of his 25-year career and is the defending champion of this year's Frys.com Open in northern California. Mediate finished second at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines when he and Tiger Woods played in only the third sudden death round in U.S. Open history. The second place finish catapulted Rocco from 158th to 47th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
"We are extremely excited to have had two seasoned veterans of the PGA TOUR commit to play in the Mylan Classic," said Rodney L. Piatt, Southpointe Golf Club president. "With Arnold Palmer as the Honorary Tournament Chairman and now Rocco and John competing in the event, this year's tournament is really going to be special."
Weekly tournament tickets for the Mylan Classic are priced at $25 and include admission for the tournament itself as well as concerts by Jerrod Niemann, Steel Magnolia, Scott Blasey, Joe Grushecky and The Spinners. Also scheduled for tournament week are the Youth Clinic presented by Highmark, Women's Golf Clinic presented by Washington Hospital, pro-am events, Pink on the Links and a Military Appreciation Day.
To see the full schedule of events click here.