Barona Creek Golf Club to Host 2009 Southern California PGA Section Professional Championship

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - July 24, 2009) - The Barona Creek Golf Club and Barona Resort & Casino is pleased to announce it will be hosting the 2009 Southern California PGA (SCPGA) Section Professional Championship, July 27-29.

The three-day event will feature the best PGA professionals in the Southern California region, competing for spots in the PGA Professional National Championship, as well as the inaugural Soboba Classic, a Nationwide Tour event on Sept. 28-Oct. 4 at the Country Club at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto, Calif. This year's champion will also receive an exemption into the 2010 Bob Hope Classic.

"We're very pleased to have the top club professionals from throughout the state play Barona Creek Golf Club in the SCPGA Championship," said Don King, Barona Creek's executive director of golf operations. "Our course will bring a unique challenge to these players and will provide a maximum level of competition. The winner will certainly earn this championship after 54 tough holes of golf."

The 2009 event will be held at the Barona Creek Golf Club, recognized by Golfweek as the #3 Best Resort Course in California, #5 Best Course You Can Play in California and #6 Best Casino Course in the country. With more than 7,000 yards in length for championship events, the course offers the perfect challenge for the region's top professionals. Barona Creek has hosted several major events in the past, including the 2007 Nationwide Tour Championship.

The 2008 SCPGA Section Professional Championship took place at East Valley Golf Club in Beaumont, Calif., with Virginia Country Club's Mike Miles taking home top honors with a 10-under-par 206, good for a four shot victory and a $15,000 share of the $96,000 total purse prize.

Past champions of the SCPGA Section Professional Championship include Barona Creek's own Ross Marcano, PGA, who won the event in 2006.

Barona Creek has also been recognized for its environmental efforts by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and San Diego Earthworks. Barona's state-of-the art water reclamation and wastewater treatment facilities allow Barona to save and reuse nearly every drop of water runoff at its Barona Resort & Casino and Barona Creek Golf Club. The property currently uses 100 percent of the reclaimed water to irrigate the golf course and surrounding landscape. The course has also won the prestigious Bronze Signature Sanctuary Certification from Audubon International for its conservation, environmental quality and land management efforts.

About Barona Resort & Casino

For two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009, Barona Resort & Casino has won the J.D. Power and Associates Award for the "Highest in Satisfaction in the Southern California Indian Casino Gaming Experience" in the J.D. Power and Associates Southern California Indian Gaming Casino Satisfaction Study. Barona Resort & Casino blends the best of San Diego's most elegant resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. Barona is San Diego's leading destination resort featuring 400 luxury guest rooms and suites, ten award-winning dining options, the AmBience Day Spa, a full-service events center and the 18-hole championship Barona Creek Golf Club, rated the 3rd best resort course in California by Golfweek magazine. For Barona Resort & Casino reservations and information, visit www.barona.com, or call toll free 888-7-BARONA (722-7662).

Barona Resort & Casino received the highest numerical score in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2008-2009 Indian Gaming Casino Studies(SM) -- Southern California Region. The 2009 study, which only surveys casinos with a minimum of 1,000 slot machines, is based on 4,452 responses from gaming players who visited an Indian casino in Southern California between December 2008 and May 2009. Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of consumers surveyed in May, 2009. Your experiences may vary. Visit www.jdpower.com.

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About the Southern California PGA

The Southern California PGA is based in Beaumont, Calif. With over 1,700 members in Southern California, the SCPGA is the second largest of the 41 Sections throughout the country. For more information on the SCPGA Section Professional Championship, including pairings and results, please visit www.scpga.com. If you have questions, please contact Chris Austin, SCPGA Communications Manager, at 951-845-4653 or caustin@pgahq.com, or Rick Schloss at 619-308-4387 or rickschlosspr@aol.com

Contact Information: CONTACT: Rick Schloss 619-308-4387 Chris Austin 951-845-4653