GUILFORD COUNTY -- After 31 years, the Piedmont's PGA tour event is back at its starting place.

In less than a week, the Wyndham Championship will kick off at the Sedgefield Country Club after parting ways last year with Forest Oak Country Club.

Irwin Smallwood first began covering the Wyndham for the News and Record in 1955. Then the tournament was called the Greater Greensboro Open. He says he's excited about the tournament's move this year back to Sedgefield.

"Because of what's gone on before and the fact that you are going and walking in the foot prints of the great players of the game," Smallwood said.

He says he’s excited because while the course will be very challenging, it will also provide heritage and history.

As the golf go-to guy for the paper, two years stick out in Smallwood's memory: One is 1961, when Charlie Sifford became the first African-American to play in the PGA tour event.

"That he not only played and broke the color lines in Greensboro but he shot a 68 the first round and led the golf tournament with a big cigar hanging out of his mouth," Smallwood remembered.

But the retired golf reporter says Sifford's accomplishment at Sedgefield was quite serious. It came at a time when the Professional Golfers' Association’s by-laws had a whites only clause. The clause was done away with six months after Sifford played at Sedgefield.

"And I think that Greensboro is unquestionably played a major role in that," Smallwood added.

Fast forward to 1965 when already seven-time winner Sam Snead chose to go for another championship.

"[Snead] is still in the record books as the oldest person ever to win a PGA tour event," Smallwood added.

It was in 1953 that Smallwood most fondly remembers the formation of the ACC inside the Sedgefield clubhouse. He says it was the first unofficial meeting of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Be sure to stay tuned to News 14 Carolina leading up to and during the tournament for updates.