DATE: Thursday, August 7, 1997              TAG: 9708070790

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   31 lines

MICHELOB LIKELY TO STAY IN FALL - FOR NOW TOURNEY OFFICIALS WANT TO MOVE TO MAY.

The Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, which moves to the fall this year, apparently will remain in October through the year 2002.

Tournament executive director Johnnie Bender said Wednesday that the PGA Tour has told her that the Michelob Championship will retain its spot on the calendar, which is Oct. 9-12 this year. The tournament had hoped to move to May for the 1999 season.

``They've given us a heads-up it looks like we will probably remain in the fall and they'll give us the final word at a later date,'' Bender said.

The tour recently completed a TV contract that will take it through 2002. The tour releases its schedule on a yearly basis, but a tour spokesman said Bender would have the best information about the future of the event.

Bender stressed that the Michelob is thrilled with the date change to October and away from the heat of July and its spot on the calendar a week before the British Open. That move has already paid dividends in terms of the preliminary player commitments from the likes of Nick Faldo, Justin Leonard, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Davis Love III and defending champ Scott Hoch.

However, Bender said tournament officials considered May an ideal time because of the weather, condition of the golf course and because it could be scheduled the week after the nearby Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.

``We saw ourselves as a spring date,'' Bender said. ``But we may determine after this year's tournament that fall is the place we should be anyway.''

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