
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994                   TAG: 9403310089
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WADKINS TO REPRESENT HOMESTEAD

The Homestead resort in Hot Springs announced Wednesday that Lanny Wadkins has agreed to become its touring professional and will have the resort's name on his golf bag and shirts when he tees up at the Masters tournament.

Wadkins, a PGA Tour pro since 1972, also will visit The Homestead throughout the year to conduct clinics and play golf with corporate groups.

"It is very special for me to be able to represent The Homestead, which has played such an important part of my golfing career," Wadkins said.

Wadkins, a Richmond native who lives in Dallas, practiced and competed often as a teen-ager on The Homestead's Cascades Course. He won the Virginia State Amateur title on the Cascades Course in 1970, the same year he was the U.S. Amateur champion.

The Homestead was acquired in October by Dallas-based Club Resorts Inc., which agreed to spend $12.5 million renovating the property, including $1 million to upgrade The Homestead golf course and remodel the Cascades club house.

The arrangement with Wadkins, 44, is part of The Homestead's effort to raise the profile of its golf courses, Homestead president Gary Rosenberg said. He declined to disclose the fee being paid to Wadkins.

Wadkins, captain of the 1995 U.S. Ryder Cup team and eighth on the PGA Tour's career earnings list, "will have a lot of exposure in the next couple of years," Rosenburg said.

In a statement, Wadkins began earning his pay, saying the Cascades layout "is truly regarded as one of America's greatest mountain golf courses."

The course is consistently ranked among the nation's best resort layouts by Golf Digest magazine and was the site of the 1988 U.S. Amateur. This year's U.S. Women's Amateur will be held at the course.

After buying Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in North Carolina, Club Resorts signed LPGA pro Brandie Burton as the touring professional. Ben Crenshaw is the touring professional at another Club Resort property, Barton Creek in Austin, Texas.

"Sometimes it makes sense to have a touring professional and sometimes it doesn't," Rosenberg said. "There is a stable of golf professionals who will represent you for a fee. That's not what we wanted. We wanted someone well known in the golfing community and who has a real affinity for The Homestead, and there are only two - Sam Snead and Lanny Wadkins."

Sam Snead lives in Hot Springs. He retired as a professional years ago.

by CNB