Like so many golf courses in Western Pennsylvania, Southpointe Golf Club has been hammered by the torturous summer weather, a crippling combination of excessive thunderstorms and stifling temperatures.

Seven of the greens at the Arthur Hills-designed course in Canonsburg were closed five weeks ago and the superintendent was fired. It was a tenuous time for the private club that sits at the epicenter of the Southpointe corporate and real-estate community, especially with a Nationwide Tour event -- the Mylan Classic -- just around the corner.

But, as Rod Piatt looked out his office window Friday morning, getting a bird's-eye view of the restored course condition, he couldn't have been more thrilled with what he saw.

Good thing, too: The 72-hole Mylan Classic, with a 156-player field of young hopefuls and former PGA Tour players, begins this week at Southpointe -- an event that will be televised by the Golf Channel and bring national exposure to the 18-year-old club.

"Absolutely phenomenal," said Piatt, president of the Southpointe Golf Club and the man who brought the Nationwide Tour back to Western Pennsylvania after an 18-year absence. "The PGA Tour agronomist was very, very excited about the condition of the golf course. It's absolutely spectacular."

Piatt credits the turnaround to his new superintendent, Alan Easter, who was hired in July to transform the course and bring back to life the seven greens that have been closed. Easter worked at Totteridge Golf Club in Greensburg before that private club was sold and opened to the public.

"Alan Easter has done a spectacular job," Piatt said. "The greens are perfect. You wouldn't know there was a problem."

To get ready for the tournament, Southpointe has built five new tees to extend the total yardage to 6,946 yards. The most dramatic new looks are at the par-3 12th, where a new elevated tee has stretched the hole to 194 yards; and at the par-4 16th, where a tee shot of 325 yards is needed to cross a creek that runs across the fairway on the 413-yard hole.

"Everyone is excited," Piatt said. "We're ready to go."

The field for the $600,000 event ($108,000 to the winner) will include five-time PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate, a Greensburg native who will return home to compete because he is not eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs; and Sam Saunders, grandson of Arnold Palmer who has made the cut in three of seven events on the PGA Tour this season.

But it will also include Bobby MacWhinnie of Upper St. Clair, who has made the cut in just four of 18 Nationwide Tour events this season; and Robert Rohanna, a mini-tour player from Waynesburg who was given a sponsor's exemption after shooting 12-under 201 and winning the Pennsylvania Open by three shots last week.

Also, three players from the Tri-State PGA section have qualified for the event -- John Aber of Allegheny Country Club, Kevin Shields of Sewickley Heights and Dennis Dolci of Tam O'Shanter Golf Club.

The field could also include Mc- Keesport native and Duquesne University graduate Brian Cooper, an Arizona mini-tour player who will be one of 114 players vying for four spots in an 18-hole qualifier Monday at Green Oaks Country Club in Verona. In the 21-year history of the Nationwide Tour, only 19 Monday qualifiers have gone on to win the tournament for which they qualified, the most recent being Kyle Reifers at the 2006 Chattanooga Classic.

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