The Regions Charity Classic, formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, was an American

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

on the Champions Tour. It was originally held at Greystone Golf & Country Club and moved to Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, one of ten courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, located in

Hoover, Alabama Hoover is a city in the Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Shelby County, Alabama, Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. Hoover is the largest suburban city in Alabama and the sixth largest city in Alabama. The populati ...

(a suburb of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

) in 2006. The tournament was founded in 1991 by Birmingham-based Bruno's Supermarkets. The event was managed by the Bruno family under it
Bruno Event Team
company. Through 2006, the tournament was normally scheduled to end on the first Sunday of May of each year, or a few days close to that day. In 2007, the tournament schedule was moved roughly two weeks later, to May 17–20. The first two tournaments were held in August — frequently a time of hot, humid

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The dates were moved to June for three more years, then finally to the early May/late April period. In 2010, organizers announced that the tournament would be superseded by the move of

The Tradition The Tradition (known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is an event on the PGA Tour Champions. First staged in 1989 Senior PGA Tour, 1989, the PGA Tour recognizes the event as one of the five senior major golf championships. Unlik ...

, a Champions Tour major tournament, which is played at nearby Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club. Regions took on sponsorship of this event, which is now called "The Regions Tradition."

History

The tournament was first held in 1992 as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, with Bruno's Supermarkets as the title sponsor. The name stems from the founders, Angelo and Lee Bruno (brothers of Bruno's founder Joseph Bruno), who were killed in an airplane crash shortly after the December 1991 press conference announcing the tournament's inception as the Bruno's Classic. From its beginning, the tournament was staged at the Greystone Golf & Country Club, in the Inverness section of the Birmingham suburb of Hoover. Since its inception, the Bruno's Memorial Classic has been one of the most popular stops on the Champions Tour, usually attracting all of the top money winners. With the loss of the annual Iron Bowl

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game between

and Auburn, which was formerly played at Birmingham's

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ...

, the golf tournament has become Metro Birmingham's largest sporting event. In 2006, Bruno's Supermarkets—which had undergone a series of financial struggles, various ownerships, and the loss involvement by Bruno family members—announced it would reduce its sponsorship commitment to the tournament. Regions Financial Corporation, a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

ing and financial services company based in Birmingham, stepped in as the title sponsor, with Bruno's remaining as a presenting sponsor. At the same time, tournament organizers announced that the site would move to the new Ross Bridge course, approximately 15 miles (25 km) west of Greystone at the other end of the city of Hoover. Ronnie Bruno, son of Angelo Bruno, continues to serve as chairman of the tournament. Additionally, the group that managed the tournament, run by Ronnie Bruno and Gene Hallman, later became a full-time event-management company known as the Bruno Event Team. The team runs a wide variety of events, mostly sports-related, including many championships for the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. On January 30, 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets confirmed that it would no longer be a presenting sponsor of the golf tournament thus ending its 17-year association with the event. (The company soon after declared bankruptcy, with the assets eventually becoming part of Belle Foods, which also subsequently went bankrupt.)

Winners

Regions Charity Classic *2010 Dan Forsman *2009 Keith Fergus Regions Charity Classic presented by Bruno's Supermarkets *2008 Andy Bean *2007 Brad Bryant *2006 Brad Bryant Bruno's Memorial Classic *2005 D. A. Weibring *2004 Bruce Fleisher *2003 Tom Jenkins *2002

Sammy Rachels Sammy Tindol Rachels III (born September 23, 1950) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour, but found his greatest level of success on the Champions Tour. Rachels was born, raised and lived hi ...

*2001

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. ...

*2000 John Jacobs *1999 Larry Nelson *1998 Hubert Green *1997 Jay Sigel *1996 John Bland *1995 Graham Marsh *1994 Jim Dent *1993 Bob Murphy *1992

George Archer George William Archer (October 1, 1939 – September 25, 2005) was an American professional golfer who won 13 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the Masters in 1969. Early life Archer was born in San Francisco, Cali ...

Source:

References

External links

Official websiteBruno Event Team official websitePGATOUR.com's tournament website
{{Former Champions Tour Events Former PGA Tour Champions events Golf tournaments in Alabama Sports in Hoover, Alabama Regions Financial Corporation Recurring sporting events established in 1992 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2010 1992 establishments in Alabama 2010 disestablishments in Alabama