BY WAYNE PHILLIPS
SPORTS EDITOR
Greeneville has a chance to be the host town for the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Women's National Golf Tournament in 2011 and 2012, and the Greene County Partnership's Sports Council spent much of the day Friday showing an NAIA representative what the town has to offer.
Greeneville, and Link Hills Country Club, is one of three finalists to host the golf tournament in 2011 and again in 2012. A decision is expected to be announced soon by the NAIA.
Work toward receiving the bid for the tournament began several months ago by the Partnership's Sports Council. The group was visited Friday by NAIA representative Kristin Gillette. She took a tour of Link Hills Country Club, where the tournament would be held, as well as the banquet facilities at the General Morgan Inn.
"I think the visit went very well," said Butch Patterson, who was instrumental in gaining the interest of the NAIA in Greeneville due to his contacts with that organization. Patterson is the director of the Greeneville Parks & Recreation Department. "I think Mrs. Gillette was very impressed with the golf course, and really, with all the facilities that Greeneville has to offer."
While in Greeneville, the Sports Council also gave Gillette a tour of the Dickson-Williams Mansion, the Niswonger Performing Arts Center and Tusculum College and the athletic facilities there.
Should Greeneville receive the bid, as many as 129 golfers from across the nation would be in Greeneville for the week-long event, which would be held in May of 2011 and again in May of 2012. The tournament itself is a four-day event with champions crowned in both team and individual competition.
The tournament would be a great boost to Greeneville's economy, as teams and fans would be staying in local motels and eating at local restaurants during the six to eight days here, according to Tammy Kinser, the Partnership's Tourism Director.
Gillette and members of the Sports Council were given a tour of the golf course by Link Hills Pro Bob Ward on a rainy Friday afternoon.
The tournament was held last year in South Dakota, and venues for the event have criss-crossed the country over the past several years.
