When the Nationwide Tour returns to Athens next April, things will be a little different.

The University Golf Course will become the host of the Tour’s Athens Classic at UGA, formerly the Athens Regional Foundation Classic, Universiy President Michael Adams announced at a press conference Wednesday.

The event, previously played at the Jennings Mill Country Club the past four years, will benefit need-based scholarships at the University, such as the Pell Grant.

“We believe that this is another illustration of the University’s continuing involvement and commitment to the Athens-Clarke County community and to this region,” Adams said. “The Athens community will continue to enjoy great visibility and I’m excited about the exposure the University will receive in this process. This will be a public/private partnership and will be a self-supporting event. It is designed to require no University funds ultimately directed to it other than on the front end to get it off the ground.”

Adams said any proceeds from the tournament will go to need-based scholarships that will be deposited, funded and administered through the Arch Foundation.

He said he expects the University to pay $500,000 in startup costs, but doesn’t expect any further funds to be required, since the tournament is expected to bring in $5 million to $6 million each year to the Athens economy for the duration of the three-year contract.

“I can’t wait to show the golfing world what a great facility the University has here,” Nationwide Tour President Bill Calfee said. “The event will do a number of things for the community, and the net proceeds of all our tournaments stay in the community to help those less fortunate than us and we are very proud of that element of our business. We believe in long-term relationships and we believe we can take what has been a very, very good event and make it into a very, very strong event.”

Chris Haack and Kelley Hester, the head coaches of the University’s men’s and women’s golf teams respectively said they were both excited at the prospect of sharing their home course with professionals.

“I think it’s terrific on a variety of issues,” Haack said. “First, we are going to get off the SEC date and we will be able to be here and see it and feel it and watch it. And second of all, we might be able to get our guys to actually play in it. A couple of my guys can get a chance to play and I think that would be a big draw for our fans to see our current student athletes compete against these guys.”

“For my kids, it will provide an opportunity to be around some really great golfers,” Hester said. “It used to be when we took recruits to Jennings Mill that they host a Nationwide event but now we can say they do it here. It will be a great thing.”

Though the final schedule has not been made, Adams said he expects the tournament to be played in April – one to two weeks after the Masters Tournament in Augusta concludes.