September 19, 2005

TERRA ALTA, WV — Greg Long is ready for the 10th major in 5 years. That 10th major in West Virginia is better known as Golfapalooza IX. "We have been talking about 2004 for a year and feel like it was yesterday," he told in a conference call on Sunday. "As time progressed, and yesterday watching Brian Flanagan hitting balls on the range, it has just reinforced how excited I truely am."

Golfapalooza IX, which takes place at Alpine Lake Golf Resort from Sept 22-24, is golf's 2nd major championship of the year. Long insists, however, that the excitement level for Golfapalooza will be just as high as the Carl Spackler Open.

From a media standpoint it has been a little quieter -- there's been no qualifying and no founding father picks which are usually exciting. But Rick Dosky, Jason Watson, Greg Long, Brian Flanagan, Pat Boland, and Greg Garrett have been waiting a year for this and have been excited for a year.

"I am hoping to get a little poker in this year," said Greg Long. "I also need to elevate my game on Thursday morning to ensure low score throughout."

Rick Dosky returns from his 2005 Golden Jacket to see if he can make it two championships in one year.  Dosky returns to Terra Alta with his last 7 scorecards being 120, 130, 133, 126, 132, 125, and 131. "Dosky can run away with this year's tournament with a few bogeys and double bogeys per round," says Greg Long. "As far as I am concerned, this is Dosky's tournament to lose."

Tee times for Round 1 have been published on the Golfapalooza portion of the website. Live scoring will begin Wednesday evening through Saturday evening.

Long plans to play at least one practice round on Wednesday. He also will be at the local Walmart SuperCenter signing autographs on Wednesday night from 8-10PM.

The 2006 Carl Spackler Open begins 261 days. A Captains Club announcement on tournament venue location is scheduled in 2 weeks. Invitations for the major championship will be available starting November 15.