By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Tuesday, April 25

Details
When	Thursday-Sunday
Course	Forest Oaks CC, Greensboro, N.C.
Par/Yardage	Par 72; 6,958 yards
Purse	$3 million (Winner: $540,000)
1999 champion	Jesper Parnevik
Tournament record	23-under 265 (Jesper Parnevik, 1999)
Television	Thursday-Friday: 3:30-6 p.m. ET (TGC) Saturday: 4-6 p.m. ET (CBS) Sunday: 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)

The tournament

	Hole by hole
	Hole	Par	Yards
	1	4	407
	2	5	511
	3	4	409
	4	3	190
	5	5	415
	6	4	386
	7	4	372
	8	3	215
	9	5	574
	Out	36	3479
	10	4	393
	11	4	383
	12	3	186
	13	5	503
	14	4	438
	15	5	554
	16	4	408
	17	3	188
	18	4	426
	In	36	3479
	Total	72	6958
	Key holes: There's not a lot of tricks to Forest Oaks other than keeping the ball in the fairway and putting it in a good spot on the green. The 15th and 16th holes illustrate this perfectly. No. 15 is the final par-5, reachable in two if the drive is kept in a narrow fairway. No. 16 is shorter but similar. The approach can be tricky with deep bunkers guarding the greens, which are undulating are difficult to putt from the wrong position.

The PGA Tour concludes its two-week stint in the Carolinas with one of the oldest events on the schedule. But tradition hasn't brought many stars to Greensboro.

The Greater Greensboro Classic dates back to 1938, when Sam Snead won the first of his eight titles at the event. That's the most victories by one player in any single event, and the 27 years separating his first and last victory in the same event is also a PGA Tour standard.

Snead, Byron Nelson, Billy Casper, Gary Player and many other greats have their names on the winner's trophy, but that hasn't brought many of the current stars out this year. Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Jim Furyk are among the stars bypassing this stop.

Even Stewart Cink, a winner last week at Harbour Town, is taking the week off.

What those players will miss is a golf course where steady play is rewarded. There aren't a lot of tricks to Forest Oaks, just a lot of narrow fairways and small, undulating greens. If you can keep the ball in play and read the putts, it's easy to go low. But that's a big if.

Jesper Parnevik had the formula down to a science last year. He went wire-to-wire, setting a tournament record of 23-under 265. And he could have been lower had he not been trying to protect a big lead on Sunday.

Parnevik's win last year was a surprise at the time. He wasn't playing well, had fired his caddie the week before and used friend and sometimes player Lance Ten Broeck on his bag. The combination has been together ever since, including his stellar 2000 season which finds him sixth on the money list with one win (Bob Hope Classic), one second, one third and six top-10 finishes.

Next week, the tour heads to Texas for three of the next four tournaments. The Houston Open is followed by stops in New Orleans, Dallas and Fort Worth.

A dozen players to watch
Notah Begay III: Flirted with the leaderboard last week at Harbour Town before settling for 15th, his second-best finish of the year. Played well in three rounds of this event last year.

Trevor Dodds: Dodds hasn't played very well this year, with a tie for 15th at the BellSouth his best finish. But he loves Greensboro, winning his only PGA Tour title here in 1998 and finishing eight last year.

Steve Elkington: It's about time the real Steve Elkington surfaces at an event, and why not Greensboro? When he's on, nobody makes more birdies than Elkington, who won this event in 1990 and lost a playoff in Greensboro in 1993.

Fred Funk: Forest Oaks is all about position, and Funk is a master of that. He is the most accurate driver on the tour. Now if he could only get a few putts to drop, he might find the winner's circle.

Dudley Hart: Already a winner once this season at the Honda Classic, Hart's game is a perfect fit for Forest Oaks. He opened 65-66 last year before finishing fourth.

Tom Lehman: A Sunday flurry at Harbour Town almost got Lehman his second victory of the season last week. Instead, he settled for second and his sixth top-10 finish of the year. He shot three 69s and a 68 last year in finishing fifth.

Davis Love III: Another fine week last week at Harbour Town, another close call. Love hasn't won in two years, but he always seems to contend. He ran away from the field in this tournament in 1992 with a six-shot victory.

Jeff Maggert: Maggert hasn't done much since winning the Match Play Championship last February, but he was impressive in this event. He shot a course-record 62 in the second round on his way to a third-place finish.

Rocco Mediate: Mediate played well on the West Coast, but he's missed two of his last three cuts. If he can get the broomhandle putter working, he can be dangerous at Greensboro, where he won in 1993.

Jesper Parnevik: Nobody dominated a tournament last year as well as Parnevik dominated Greensboro. He went wire-to-wire, set the 36-, 54- and 72-hole scoring records and seemed to make just about every putt all week. And he's been spectacular this year.

Jeff Sluman: Sluman hasn't put together four great rounds in one week this year, but he has been good. He has eight top-25 finishes in 12 starts, and was runnerup in this event in 1995.

Hal Sutton: The best iron player in the game is on a roll. He went wire-to-wire at The Players Championship, then earned his first top-10 finish ever at The Masters. Forest Oaks is all about placement, and that is Sutton's game.