If you don't follow golf you might not appreciate the magnitude of the effect of the tournament cancellation. The Vail Daily had a good story about it.
Much of the 156-player field is from Colorado, Utah and Arizona, but they come from all over the country. One player came from Virginia, another from Seattle. The winner of this year's Maine Open is here, from Maine, of course.
"We were on the 12th fairway and someone from the course just let us know," said Joel Skarbo, 27. "He just told us, "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's canceled.' And we just couldn't believe it, of course. At first, we thought he was joking, but then we realized it."
The 2001 champion, Brett Wayment, drove eight hours from Logan, Utah, to play. He has three or four days of expenses tied up in this already, not including the $295 entry fee. His wife took six days off work to be with him for the event.
"It's a big deal. My family is coming out Wednesday," said Wayment. "It's their favorite trip. For most of us it's a big loss."
Golf is Wayment's job and he works hard at it. He just got pink-slipped.
"If we'd known about this, we could have made arrangements to play somewhere else," he said. "Scott Peterson also decided to skip the Nationwide event in Calgary to support the state open. This is a big hit. It's sad for Colorado. It's sad for the golf world. It hurts a lot of people."
Actually, I'm shocked, too. I never would have thought they would have a hard time getting the sponsorship. A little disappointing.