In a sign of the sagging economy, Massachusetts is down to a single full-fledged professional tour event: the Labor Day weekend Deutsche Bank Championship
at TPC of Boston in Norton. The local Legends Tour event, the BJ’s Charity Championship, which has raised more than $1 million annually, has been moved from its four-year home at Granite Links in Quincy to The Pinehills in Plymouth, reduced from a 36-hole team event to a one-day pro-am on Sept. 9. Tracy West, longtime tournament director for the Nashawtuc event and founder of Hayson Sports Group, holds out hope that the senior event will return one day. Jane Blalock, founder of the Legends Tour for LPGA players 45- and-over, also remains hopeful that the BJ’s Charity Championship might some day return in an expanded form. The Sept. 9 field at The Pinehills will feature 40-45 top players, similar to the field at Granite Links. It will retain the name BJ’s Charity Championship. “It will be played on both courses at The Pinehills with a separate purse for each course,” Blalock said. A Faxon memorial
Susan Hudson was honored Thursday at Dedham Country & Polo Club for her 30 years of service to the New England PGA. The NEPGA’s longest-standing employee, Hudson was the first woman executive director of the organization. . .