It's going to be a mouthful and will take some getting used to, but the Regions Cup is changing its name starting in 2010.

The 10-tournament series, which is sponsored by Regions Bank, will be called the Regions Bank Amateur Series.

Why the change after 10 years as title sponsor?

Simply because some of the nonparticipants aren't aware that the "Regions" in the title refers to the bank. It is sometimes thought to mean "regional" tournaments.

"That's why we want Regions Bank in the title," said Barry Adams, Regions Bank's market president for the Aiken district. "We think we get great visibility from the tournaments. We want to make sure folks realize that Regions Bank is committed to the CSRA."

Chuck Withers, a 12-time senior division winner in the series, said the new, longer title will take some getting used to.

"It will be a couple of years before they stop calling it the Regions Cup," Withers said. "They've been sponsoring it so long, we've all got attached to it."

As title sponsor, Regions Bank picks up the tab for the season-ending matches, which pit the top 16 players from Georgia against the best 16 from South Carolina for two days of match play.

For making the team (based on points earned from top-20 finishes during the season), players are rewarded with free golf, carts, shirts, ball and food during the matches, held annually at Thomson's Belle Meade Country Club.

Adams attended the recent matches -- which Georgia won -- and was pleased with the event, and the season, which started in early May and ran through late August.

"Other than that (the name change), I don't think there is a lot of tweaking we can do with the format," he said. "The format is wonderful, the competition is great and the players are exceptional."

CUTTING BACK: Withers, who turns 60 on Thursday and has been a mainstay in the series since he turned 50, will play a limited schedule next year.

It's nothing against the series, it's just that he wants to play in some events that have conflicted with the Regions series in the past.

"I've always wanted to play in the Retired Military Golf Association tournament down in Myrtle Beach in early June," Withers said. "It's a four-day tournament and a lot my friends go to it, and the people send me an application every year, and I've never gone. It's tough getting into it. We're talking about a huge golf tournament."

Withers played in every Regions event this past season. Next year, with the limited schedule, he might not make the powerful eight-player Georgia senior division team for the matches.

"If I play well enough, I think I can still get in," said Withers, who has played in every one of the matches since he turned 50.

EASY DRIVE: Aiken's Stephen Poole is a regular on the eGolf Tour but decided to make his first appearance in an NGA/Hooters event last week. The former Clemson golfer came away with a top-10 finish, earning nearly $5,000 by tying for ninth in the Kandy Waters Memorial Classic at Gordon Lakes Golf Course.

"I played because I live 30 minutes away in Aiken; it's nice staying in your own bed for a week," Poole said.

He had good things to say about Gordon Lakes, which was making its Hooters debut and is expected to play host to the Kandy Waters again next year.

"It was a really good course; it was in really good shape with the 7 inches of rain they had that week. It's a really good layout," he said of the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design.