For years, golf pro Tim Foster has liked hanging out near the practice tee at the AT&T Classic, watching the best players in the world do their thing.

So having the tournament decide to pull out is a double blow. Not only has he lost a learning opportunity, but a city well-enamored with the game has lost another chance to watch the best.

"We lost the senior tour first. Then we lost the ladies. Now we've lost the regular tour," said Foster, pro at The Hooch Golf Club in Duluth. "It's really a shame."

The PGA announced Monday that it the tournament would not return to Atlanta in 2009, but suggested that a Champions Tour event could replace it.

The event had been held in Gwinnett since 1997. AT&T had previously announced it planned to stop sponsoring the event, but organizers had been hopeful they could find a replacement sponsor in time.

Tour organizers estimated the event generated $14 million for the local economy and generated more than $16.5 million for charity, most of it benefiting Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Paul Tomasulo, manager of the Edwin Watts Golf Store in Duluth, said the shop was a popular destination for people attending the tour to cool off, wait out weather delays or just be around golf when the tournament was over for the day.

"We're going to be sad to see it leave our area," he said.

While the decision is disappointing, ending the event will not pose a major economic challenge for the county, said Lisa Anders, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The event officially took up 1,500 of the county's 11,000 hotel rooms this year, although Anders said those numbers don't include out-of-town spectators. Her group does not track those numbers.

Events such as an SEC gymnastics or women's basketball tournament or a faith-based convention at the Gwinnett Arena will take over as many as 4,000 rooms all over the county, she said.

Most of the rooms rented for the AT&T Classic were located in the Duluth area, Anders said.

"More than anything, it's a great source of pride to be able to say you have the PGA tournament," she said.

Anders said the bureau would be glad to back up any efforts to attract a replacement tournament, but will not be actively seeking a new tournament or sponsors.