YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1978 w w w. j a m e s t o w n n e w s . c o m
WEEKLY EDITION
AUGUST 5-11, 2026 Vol 48 No 32 | 1 Section | 6 Pages
Big names, former champions join 2026 Wyndham BY CAROL BROOKS FREELANCE WRITER cab1hp@gmail.com The field just keeps getting better. The last day PGA Tour golfers could register for the 2026 Wyndham Championship, which this year fell on July 31, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Billy Horschel, Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger all joined the field for the tournament, which begins Aug. 6 The previous day, Jackson Koivun, Brian Harmon and Charlotte’s Truist Championship winner Sepp Straka joined three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, J.T.
Poston, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, Keegan Bradley, Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNealy, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard, Alex Fitzpatrick, Alex Smalley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Bud Cauley, Eric Cole, Sungjae Im, Alex Noren, Sahith Theegala and two-time major winner Justin Thomas. Koivun, only 21 years old, won the 3M Championship in July in only his third professional start. He finished fifth in last year’s Wyndham Champion as an amateur. Several of these players have North Carolina ties, whether currently living in
the state or attending university here. Former Wyndham champions scheduled to play along with Cameron Young (2025) are Brandt Snedeker (2007, 2018), Webb Simpson (2011), J.T. Poston (2019), Tom Kim (2022), Lucas Glover (2023) and Aaron Rai (2024). Kim won the Genesis Scottish Open in July and finished third at the U.S. Open. Rai won the 2026 PGA Championship. “Having the reigning PGA Champion in the Wyndham Championship field is a big deal,” said Executive Director Mark Brazil. “Aaron
showed the world what a great player is when he won by three on a very difficult golf course, but we saw him play 72 holes in three days at Sedgefield Country Club so we already knew he had it in him.” Si Woo Kim, the 2016 champion, withdrew from the field last Friday. Young is ranked No. 3 in the world. Last year’s Wyndham win was his first as a PGA professional and he has since gone on to win the Players and Cadillac championships this year, tied for second at the Open Championship SEE JOIN, PAGE 2
Photo courtesy John Gillooly/Wyndham Championship
Cam Young kisses the Sam Snead Cup following his 2025 victory at the Wyndham Championship.
Sedgefield turns 100 this year BY CAROL BROOKS FREELANCE WRITER cab1hp@gmail.com
COMPILED BY CAROL BROOKS TOWN COUNCIL There will be a Special Town Council meeting Aug. 6 at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. After the call to order, the Council will go into Closed Session per General Statute 143-318 to discuss a personnel matter. The public is not allowed to attend closed sessions. There is no other business planned. MARK (WIN) SCOTT Mark (Win) Scott, who played baseball at Ragsdale High School, has earned a promotion to the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Scott also played for the High Point Rockers in recent years and made 13 appearances with the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers. He struck out 28 in 25 2/3 innings pitched. Have an event that you think needs to be included in About Town? Email Norma B. Dennis at ndworddesign@gmail.com or Carol Brooks at cab1hp@gmail.com
The Wyndham Championship officially begins tomorrow, Aug. 6, with last year’s champion, Cameron Young, returning to celebrate and defend his victory. Young’s isn’t the only celebration going on. Sedgefield Country Club is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. History The Sedgefield area was planned as a self-sufficient resort community for wealthy northerners and a retreat from city life in the state. It originally was a hunting preserve for many of those northerners. “The story of Sedgefield – its golf course of superlative excellence, its natural beauty, its picturesque layout, and its uniqueness as a development – has been carried through the eastern states by those who have visited Sedgefield, and have seen what is there.” So reads the flowery words of a real estate ad, possibly in 1926,
Photo by Carol Brooks
(Above) The 9th hole and clubhouse at Sedgefield Country Club today. Photo courtesy Sedgefield Country Club
(At left) The 9th hole and what was called the Sedgefield Inn, now the clubhouse, prior to 1967.
SEE SEDGEFIELD, PAGE 4
Attending the tournament? A few things to know
Wyndham hopes to get a windfall from General Assembly BY CAROL BROOKS FREELANCE WRITER cab1hp@gmail.com
College students can purchase one (1) GoodAny-Day grounds ticket for a discounted rate of $50. Limit of 1 ticket per person for one day, Thursday-Sunday. When fans arrive at Sedgefield, tournament personnel will scan the digital ticket and provide the wristband for that day of tournament play. All fans must enter the tournament through the main entrance located near the intersection of Forsyth Drive and Wayne Road or through our five satellite entrances located at the intersections of: Donnington Court/Wayne Road, County Clare Road/Wayne Road, Wayne Road/Anson Road, Rockingham Road/ Gaston Road and Anson Road/Rockingham Road. All tickets and parking passes for the 2026 Wyndham Championship will be digital. Tickets must be
Tickets Neither on-site ticket sales nor Will Call will be available, but fans arriving at the Wyndham Championship without tickets can purchase them on their mobile devices before entering. On Aug. 5, fans will be admitted for free for the Wednesday practice round that includes a pro-am tournament. Children 15 and under are admitted free with grounds access when accompanied by an adult ticket holder. This excludes hospitality. All hospitality guests four years of age and older require a hospitality ticket. Members of the military, Piedmont Triad teachers and Piedmont Triad first responders gain free admission into the tournament. SEE ATTENDING, PAGE 2
Leave our flag alone There is no accounting for the things that may suddenly appear in one’s email. For me, most unsolicited email NORMA B. DENNIS goes unread, quickly ndworddesign@gmail.com deleted with the click of a button. But one such email recently caught my attention strictly for the absurdity of it. Seeing the title “Basketball Hoops, BBQ Sauce + Trucks Voted the Flag Symbols That Best Represents Modern North Carolina,” made curiosity get the better of me and I had to see what that meant. A survey by Custom Made Casino had asked people to imagine what their state flag should look like if redesigned for current times. With responses from 3,014 people, the results suggested that if states were starting from scratch today, many would suggest skipping the traditional historic approach and going for more modern symbols. “State flags are one of the oldest forms of place branding,” said Adam Marks, founder of Custom Made Casino. “They are meant to tell people what a state stands for, what it values, and how it wants to be recognized. What this survey shows is that people think about state identity in a
Notes from
Norma
SEE FLAG, PAGE 4
The N.C. General Assembly is considering giving $40 million in funding to the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation if the Wyndham Championship stays in Greensboro from at least 2028-2031 – contingent on the PGA running the tournament at “the highest tier ranking of professional golfers.” The payout would be $10 million a year for the four years. Judging from the list of golfers participating in the tournament this year, that should not be a problem. The N.C. House originated the bill (HB 268) and the Senate recently passed the bill – with the contingency. If the House approved the amended bill at their Aug. 4 meeting, the Wyndham receives the windfall. The Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation runs the Wyndham Championship. The PTCF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-
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BY CAROL BROOKS FREELANCE WRITER cab1hp@gmail.com
profit organization based in Greensboro. Established in 1967, it runs the annual PGA Tour golf tournament to distribute proceeds and raise funds for central North Carolina charities, including food security and youth golf. Birdies Fore Backpacks, the Tesori Family Foundation, First Tee of the Triad, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and Western North Carolina Hurricane Relief are just a few of the charities benefiting from the tournament. PTCF plans to turn the Wyndham into one of the PGA Tour’s main events, which include the four major tournaments, the Players and FedEx Cup playoffs. It also includes the Presidents and Ryder Cup tournaments. The state funding would go a long way to making that goal a reality. The PGA Tour plans to begin a new competition system in 2028, with 20 tournaments being Challenger Series events with SEE WINDFALL, PAGE 4