02-10-2020, 10:15 AM
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- It could be a month or two until an iconic West Virginia resort reopens after deadly, damaging floods, but its maimed championship golf course may not be ready for play much before the PGA Tour rolls through next July, resort owner Jim Justice said.The floods that swept through West Virginia last week and killed at least 23 people statewide carved a path of destruction unseen in generations at the historic Greenbrier.Running through the Old White TPC golf course, Howards Creek raged over its banks during the pounding storms Thursday. When the worst of it was over, Greenbrier employees came upon two bodies on the resort grounds and are draining a lake on the 16th fairway to search for more.Dating back to 1778, the 700-room resort with an iconic white facade has long been one of the jewels of West Virginias tourism industry, hosting presidents and royalty and holding a once-secret underground bunker built for Congress in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War.But on Tuesday, 300 of the neediest victims from the flood-ravaged area occupied the rooms, and the hotel was closed for business while it fed and sheltered the disaster refugees.West Virginians are tough, loving, prideful, good people. Theyll bond together, and Ive said this many times, theyll get through this, said Justice, the billionaire owner who threw open the place for use as a shelter.We wont forget it, and were not supposed to forget it. And well be scarred with it forever, but well survive it, and well figure it out.Fifteen people died in the resorts namesake county, where many were swept away by swift, mucky floodwaters. A dead 14-year-old boy washed up against a maintenance shed at the resort, and the body of an elderly man was pulled from a lake on the grounds.On Tuesday, grandstands set up for a PGA tournament that was supposed to start the week of July Fourth now look out on a muddy, gouged-out golf course strewn with trash, tires, refrigerators and severed trees.The Old White had been manicured to host some of golfs biggest names at a tournament starting July 7. The event was going to be free for the first time, and about 300,000 fans were expected. But then the rains began, and the water rose and kept rising.On Thursday evening, pro golfer Bubba Watson, who has a home at the resort, tweeted a video that showed the course had become a flowing river of brown water.After the rain stopped, Justice checked out a high-water mark on the 15th hole, a record set in 1915. This flood topped it by 5 feet.The tournament has been canceled.The Greenbriers newly built chapel was filled with 4 feet of mud. At the tennis complex, mud coated a few levels of seats around the year-old center court. Water spilled into several areas of the resorts main building.The golf course suffered extensive damage.In all honesty, the course will probably have to be completely redone, Justice said.The Greenbrier is also set to host the New Orleans Saints training camp starting in late July. The NFL team said it is still coming.Justice, a coal and agriculture magnate who is the Democratic nominee for governor in November, has put the campaign on hold for at least two weeks.Honest to Pete, thats the last thing that I need to be doing today, he said.Instead of campaign checks, money to help the victims is starting to roll in. Justices flood-relief charity, Neighbors Loving Neighbors, has received $600,000 in commitments in just a few days, include five-figure pledges from former NBA star and West Virginia native Jerry West, Rite Aid and a FirstEnergy executive, he said.As they grabbed a free lunch Tuesday, flood victims staying at the Greenbrier said they were grateful.Kenneth Hoke, 45, fled his home Thursday in Monroe County to stay at the Greenbrier with his wife, Melanie. By the time he left, water had crept up to the bottom of the stairs and was rising quickly. He hasnt been home since.We were hit pretty hard in the hollow, Hoke said. We lost everything we had. Air Max 270 React Noir . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Air Max 270 React 2020 . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. http://www.airmax270reactpascher.fr/faus...t-eng.html . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Air Max 270 Ultramarine Pas Cher .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Air Max 270 React Rose Pas Cher . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. ELMONT, N.Y. -- Jose Ortiz, aboard the front-running Ectot, came to the quarter pole of Saturdays Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic with a clear lead and plenty of horse. He took a peak to his inside and then to his outside as he braced for an expected challenge from the overwhelming favorite, Flintshire.I knew I had something left. I was waiting a little bit for him, Ortiz said. I dont want him to get the jump on me because the turn of foot that horse has been showing is amazing, so I didnt want him to surprise me.The surprise, at least to those who made Flintshire the 1-5 favorite, was that Flintshires turn of foot was nonexistent, perhaps compromised by the soft Belmont turf. Meanwhile, the ground was a nonissue for Ectot, who kept right on going and galloped to a five-length victory over Flintshire in the Joe Hirsch.It was 1-3/4 lengths farther back to Twilight Eclipse in third. Money Multiplier finished last in the four-horse field.The win was the first for Ectot in two years and his first in three starts in this country since being transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher by Al Shaqab Racing. The win also earned Ectot a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Breeders Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.The connections of Flintshire feared that soft turf would be kryptonite to their multiple Grade 1 stakes winner. That fear was realized as jockey Javier Castellano said the horse struggled when he asked him to run with three furlongs to go.Usually, when you ask him, hes got great acceleration, and he didnt, Castellano said. He struggled the last part with the soft ground. Nothing you can do. I felt the ground was really soft, I dont think he liked it much.Chad Brown, the trainer of Flintshire, said he knew there was a chance his colt wouldnt replicate his prior efforts -- wins in the Manhaattan, Bowling Green, and Sword Dancer -- over soft turf.ddddddddddddI knew the risks going in; his records poor on soft ground, Brown said. I didnt feel entirely comfortable just training him up to the [Breeders Cup Turf], so we elected to run him, and unfortunately it didnt work out for him today. Hopefully, hell be able to rebound in the Breeders Cup.Pletcher felt the soft ground would help Ectot -- a Group 1 winner in France three years ago -- but a bigger key would be if the 5-year-old Britain-bred son of Hurricane Run would be able to settle early.Ortiz said Ectot was a bit headstrong while running a quarter-mile in 24.78 seconds and a half-mile in 49.78 before relaxing on the backside.In the middle of the turn, I put my hands down, and he relaxed himself, Ortiz said. After that, I tried not to move on him. I knew I was going a nice rhythm -- not too fast, not too slow. When he switched to his right lead on the backside, he pricked his ears and relaxed very well for me.Ectot received token pressure from Money Multiplier through six furlongs in 1:15.03 and a mile in 1:39.78. But at the quarter pole, Money Multiplier was done. Joel Rosario, on Twilight Eclipse, was all out. And Flintshire was not where Ortiz expected him to be.He didnt have it today, Ortiz said. My horse gave me a good enough run, good enough to win.Ectot covered the 1-1/2 miles in 2:28.76 and returned $20.80.It is likely the top two finishers will meet again in the Breeders Cup Turf at Santa Anita, where the turf likely will be firm.We dont anticipate well get a lot of rain in California, but at the same time, hes run well on firm ground, Pletcher said. Were delighted with his effort today. ' ' '