Southern Pines Pilot, Global Golf Post partner for coverage of Men's and Women's U.S. Opens

(Southern Pines, N.C.) – The (Southern Pines) Pilot newspaper and digital media outlet Global Golf Post will work in conjunction to produce editorial coverage of the historic 2014 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Open Championships from Pinehurst, N.C.

Beginning June 8, the Pinehurst Resort will host the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championships on its storied No. 2 Course, marking the first time in history both tournaments will be played on the same golf course in successive weeks.

As it has done during past U.S. Opens in Pinehurst, The Pilot will publish an approximately 72-page U.S. Open Daily edition during eight days of the men’s championship, as well as a 48-page Women’s Open edition during five days of the women’s championship, both of which will include contributions from Global Golf Post. Global Golf Post will publish and distribute four digital magazines during each of the national championships with contributions from The Pilot’s writers and photographers.

The Pilot is an independently owned Moore County newspaper published each Wednesday and Sunday. It was twice named the best community newspaper in America by the Inland Press Association. Since 1996, it has been owned by members of the Frank Daniels family, former owner, and publisher, of The News & Observer of Raleigh.

When Pinehurst hosted the 1999 U.S. Open — at the time, the biggest event ever staged in Moore County — The Pilot brought in a talented group of outside writers and photographers to produce a 56-page publication every day for eight days in addition to its regular paper. In 2005, The Pilot expanded on that concept by publishing 72 pages each day for the men’s U.S. Open and, in 2007, a 24-page guide for the Women’s U.S. Open. The paper earned numerous awards and national recognition for its efforts.
Global Golf Post is the first designed-for-digital weekly golf news publication in the world. It is delivered overnight Sunday, 50 weeks per year, to a global audience of 800,000 avid golfers. Global Golf Post is a fully interactive digital publication that incorporates rich media applications and offers golf consumers a remarkable online experience, much like reading a traditional magazine or newspaper.

“We are very proud of the U.S. Open coverage we have provided our community in the past and we look forward to building on that success in 2014 in our partnership with Global Golf Post,” said David Woronoff, a fourth-generation publisher and The Pilot’s publisher since 1996. “Both publications are written and edited by a world-class team of award-winning journalists and both are distinguished by their comprehensiveness. We look forward to bringing together two outstanding media outlets for this historic occasion.”

The Open Daily editions will be distributed at the resort each day and in all of the local hotels, rental homes, pro shops and breakfast spots. The newspaper also plans to distribute copies at hotels in Raleigh and Greensboro — where Open visitors will be staying — and the Open Daily also will be inserted into The Pilot on the days it publishes.

The Pilot also publishes the popular PineStraw, O. Henry and Salt arts and culture magazines monthly for Southern Pines, Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C., respectively. All three magazines are edited by The Pilot’s writer in residence and Sunday essayist Jim Dodson, an award-winning author of numerous bestselling books, including “American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and the Modern Age of Golf,” “Final Rounds,” “A Golfer’s Life (with Arnold Palmer)” and “Ben Hogan: An American Life.”

“Having contributions from Jim Dodson and some of the other writers and photographers in The Pilot stable will be a nice addition for our subscribers,” said Global Golf Post publisher Jim Nugent. “Similarly, we believe readers of The Pilot’s U.S. Open Daily editions will enjoy the contributions of our staff, including Ron Green Jr., [former GOLF magazine editor] Mike Purkey and [former Golfweek writer and Golf Channel commentator] Brian Hewitt.” Hewitt is currently Global Golf Post's Editor-in-Chief.