Tournament Director Sean Gibbons has announced that the first annual Village Open, an $85,000 PSA tournament which plans to utilize the four-glass-wall McWil Court and is expected to attract the leading lights of the PSA pro singles tour, will take place from October 9th through 12th in the famed Chelsea section of downtown Manhattan. The New Space, located at 530 West 21st Street (between 10th and 11th Avenue) will be the event main-draw site, preceded by the qualifying rounds (and four of the eight opening-round matches), which will be hosted from October 7th through 9th at the Printing House Fitness & Squash Club on 421 Hudson Street in the West Village.

The galleries behind both side walls and the back wall will accommodate 275 spectators and tickets will go on sale later this week. The investment firm of Goldman Sachs is the major underwriter for the tournament, all of whose proceeds will be donated to Citysquash, the New York-based youth squash-and-studies enrichment group that has experienced such growth and success under the Executive Directorship of Tim Wyant during its three years of existence. Those interested in purchasing patron's tickets are urged to contact Bob Osborne (bob@theosbornegroup.com) or Jerry Ouderkirk (jouderkirk@nys.rr.com) for more information.

The advent of this brand-new and top-tier (both in terms of prize money and player turnout) tournament will have a major impact on the U. S. portion of the PSA competitive scene. Already seven top-30 PSA players, led by No. 1 David Palmer and No. 11 John White, have officially entered and many more from the top-15 are expected to sign up as well between now and the September 6th entry deadline. Only one tournament in North America, a mid-winter event in Chicago which last year offered $ 100,000, has a bigger PSA purse than the Village Open.

SEVEN MAJOR EVENTS NOW IN NORTH AMERICA
Between these two events, as well as the autumn U. S. Open (announced as a superseries silver event for 2006, with an anticipated $60,000-plus purse) in Boston's Back Bay based Hancock Hall, the late-February Tournament Of Champions in Grand Central Station ($ 70,000), and $50,000 PSA St. Louis Open, the $50,000 Dayton Open in January, the Canadian Classic in Toronto (last season at a $ 50,000 purse) also in January and the $50,000 Richmond VA Open in February, it is now the case that almost half of the $ 50,000 and over tourneys on the PSA schedule are held in this continent, which is the first time that has ever occurred.

Additional specific information about the Village Open and tickets is available on the tournament web site, www.villageopen.org.

SquashTalk will continue to provide details and information about this new event, as it develops.