Charlotte, N.C. – In the fall of 2008, the eGolf Professional Tour conducted a season-ending Tour Championship at both Spring Creek Golf Club in Charlottesville, VA and Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, VA. For the first time since that event, the tour will return to the famed Wintergreen Resort – utilizing the Stoney Creek Course – for the inaugural Championship at Wintergreen Resort, to be contested on June 27-30, 2012.

Just 45 minutes southwest of Charlottesville, VA lies the Wintergreen Resort, one of the top ski and golf destinations on the east coast. The winter months in the Rockfish River valley feature some of the best powder in the state of Virginia, but it’s the summer months that offer a canvas of green highlighted by two championship-caliber venues on the stunning mountain property – the Stoney Creek and Devil’s Knob courses.

Stoney Creek, sole host of the Championship at Wintergreen Resort, features three nine-hole layouts: The Monocan, Shamokin and Tuckahoe nines. The championship routing, used for both the Tour Championship and this year’s event, is the blending of the Monocan and Shamokin nines – two distinct layouts that will provide a stern test for tour’s best players. Both nines were designed by famed architect Rees Jones – the proverbial doctor of countless U.S. Open venues.

Monocan plays throughout a setting that mirrors the Virginia countryside, with streams and gentle elevation flow that eventually play their way down to Lake Monocan – a stunning water feature that impacts both the par-4 fourth and the par-3 fifth. The nine ends with a dogleg-right par-5 that plays out of a narrow chute of native hardwoods, and into the open vistas of the Blue Ridge mountains – which paints a picture that serves in stark contrast to the more narrow Shamokin nine.

Shamokin, which serves as the closing nine at Stoney Creek, features a collection of stern par-4 tests that gradually play up the mountain, culminating with the dramatic par-3 16th. On 16, players make their way slightly up the mountain at Wintergreen, and then hit a towering tee shot down to the green below – some 50 feet below the tee.

"I think what Stoney Creek is to me, is one of the great settings in mountain golf,” said Rees Jones upon completion of the course.

Jones’ work at Stoney Creek provided one of the more heralded venues in the Old Dominion state. The course was ranked as the No. 34 resort course in the United States by Golf Digest, while the Wintergreen Resort itself was placed by Conde Naste Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Golf Resorts in the World.”

“We are very excited to head back to Wintergreen,” said eGolf Tour president David Siegel. “The resort is without doubt one of the best on the east coast, and we honestly feel that in year one, the Championship at Wintergreen Resort will become one of the premier events on our schedule.

While the golf course will undoubtedly be the talk of the event, the extracurricular activities that the Wintergreen Resort provides will more than hold their own for players eyeing off-course adventure.

The stunning mountaintop resort has a plethora of activities available during the week, including fly fishing, hiking, zip-lining, canoeing, kayaking and summer tubing – think water sliding down a ski slope, sans water, for the latter.

The resort features four full-service restaurants and bars, while a handful of dining options exist right outside the gates, adjacent to the base of the mountain.

“The unique aspect of this event is that it will really provide a great test for our players, yet will still offer a wonderful respite from the stress of tournament golf during the week’s downtime,” Siegel said. “It’s amazing to think that you can play golf in 80-degree weather, then retreat to your mountaintop condo after the round to find yourself surrounded by temperatures in the mid-60s. It should make for a great experience.”

The deadline for entry into the Championship at Wintergreen Resort will be Monday, June 18th at 6:00 PM. Players may sign up after the deadline, but will incur a $50 late fee by doing so.

For a scenic view of some of the holes at Stoney Creek, please see below.

The par-4 third at Monocan

The par-3 fourth at Monocan

The par-4 first at Shamokin

The par-4 ninth at Shamokin

View of the Blue Ridge mountains from Stoney Creek