WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — “It’s a special place,” said Slugger White, Vice President of PGATOUR Rules and Competitions, of The Greenbrier Resort which is the host site for The Greenbrier Classic.
White, a Beckley native, was watching the weather on Wednesday ahead of the scheduled start of competition for the PGATOUR FedEx Cup event on Thursday.
PGATOUR Meteorologist Stewart Williams said there would be a storm threat into the weekend. “Thursday and Friday, things start trending a little bit better to where we start trending more into a summertime pattern,” predicted Williams.
“We’ll start getting more of the afternoon pop up thunderstorms as opposed to more of the tropical rains that have been around the region.
Williams said safety is the priority. “We’re not here to get anybody hurt or killed because of lightning bolts. The number one concern is lightning,” he said.
If necessary, it will be up to White to make decisions about when to stop play, through the weekend, because of any dangerous thunderstorms that move across the Greenbrier Valley.
“You’ve got to put your thinking cap on, especially the first two days. You need to get Thursday and Friday in, just try to get the cut, and then we can kind of manage it from there,” said White.
“But Thursday is really, really big to get finished.”
White graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. After going to college at Ohio University, he played on the PGATOUR between 1976 and 1979 and has spent the past 32 years working for the PGATOUR.
He was a guest on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” which is broadcasting from The Greenbrier Resort this week for the 2013 Greenbrier Classic.