GRAND NATIONAL LAKES COURSE RTJ

Photos of the Robert Trent Jones Grand National Lakes Golf Course in Opelika Alabama taken Monday September 28, 2009. Clubhouse photo. .(The Birmingham News / Joe Songer). Part of the Alabama Golf Course Gallery

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The PGA Tour is returning to Alabama for the first time in more than two decades.

Gov. Robert Bentley will announce at a 4 p.m. news conference that a PGA tournament will be held at Grand National in Opelika next year and through 2018, a source with knowledge of the event confirmed.

[UPDATE: PGA Tour bringing new Barbasol Championship to Opelika for four-year run]

WSFA reported last week that the PGA event would be held at one of Alabama's Robert Trent Jones courses in July, and that the Grand National course was considered the first choice.

The PGA Championship, one of golf's four majors, was held at Shoal Creek in Birmingham in 1984 and 1990.

Alabama hosts two LPGA tournaments, the Airbus LPGA Classic in Mobile at Magnolia Grove Golf Club, which was played May 22-25, and the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic at Capitol Hill in Prattville, to be played Sept. 18-21.

The PGA's Champions Tour, formerly called the Senior Tour, plays one of its major championships in the state with the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek in Birmingham. It was played May 15-18 this year.

Alabama Media Group staff writer Tommy Hicks contributed to this report.