Resort prepares to host PGA event
As clusters of autograph hounds gathered around the practice greens Tuesday, tournament officials bustled across the grounds at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa tweaking this viewing area and rectifying that scheduling problem, as the resort prepared to host many of the best golfers in the world. With the warm sun beating down on pros putting and pitching – honing their craft – spectators milled the grounds, seeking out that perfect spot to view the action along the 18 holes at the revamped Mystic Rock golf course during the tournament later in the week.
Tractor-trailers loaded with thousands of beverages and thousands of pounds of food poured into the preparing and staging areas of the tournament for what has now become a showcase of the local community and the mountain resort, as hundreds of volunteers practiced their roles in the nationally televised event.
Now in its third year, the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic has become a fixture of local life and an opportunity for area businesses to capitalize on the massive influx of tourists during the event.
And organizers like Jeff Nobers, vice president of corporate communications for 84 Lumber, said he could not be happier with the tournament’s early success in 2003 and 2004 and the event’s rising stature among national PGA events.
Tuesday, Nobers, relaxing in a chair on the patio of the media center outside Falling Rock clubhouse, taking a break from scurrying from one project to the next, said the bolstered field this year should draw bigger crowds to Nemacolin, with tournament officials estimating between 200,000 and 225,000 during the week’s events.
“We are hoping for at least 200,000 and those are our minimal expectations,” Nobers said.
The field of players, the best to grace the grounds at Mystic Rock, has been an attraction for ticket sales, with big names drawing crowds to attend the tournament this year.
As of Tuesday, the field included many of the game’s best, with 2005 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson joining 2004 Classic champion Vijay Singh along with notables John Daly, Chris DiMarco, David Toms, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Carlos Franco and Fred Couples.
But in addition to the recognizable PGA star power, the field has also bulked up on currently hot PGA competitors adding the likes of upstart Jason Gore and major winner Shaun Micheel.
And returning fan favorites like Duffy Waldorf, Mark O’Meara, Mark Calcavecchia, Frank Lickliter, Stewart Cink, Rocco Mediate and Jesper Parnevik will again participate in this year’s event.
Concerts by the Doobie Brothers Friday and Lee Ann Womack Saturday will add additional entertainment value to the tournament, directors hope, with large crowds expected for the evening concerts to follow second and third round play.
Tournament officials are hopeful that clear skies will prevail during the week, with good weather predicted through the weekend, with sunny skies and warm temperatures, but event officials said they are keeping a wary eye on Tropical Storm Ophelia off the eastern seaboard near the Carolinas.
Nobers said the staff and organizers are ready for the tournament to begin, noting that all the major necessities are in place and each day now the crews are just nitpicking, anxious for the event to get under way.
“Right now we are just finding stuff to do,” Nobers said. “Little things like deciding to repaint a railing, just minor stuff. We are ready.”
Nobers said parking areas for the event are also ready to go and as early as Tuesday, state troopers were out in force along Route 40 and at tournament entrances ready to deal with heavy traffic.
He added that this year, with the recent disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the tournament will focus even greater on donations to charity, a theme that has carried over from the first two years of the event.
The damage suffered from Hurricane Katrina in the gulf states, has resulted in tournament officials working hard to raising money for the massive relief effort, with the Hardy family, owners of the resort and 84 Lumber ready to match all donations collected at the tournament up to $500,000 and additionally prepared to make large donations based on the earnings of Singh and Daly in the 2005 event.
Weather and a fairly weak field hurt turnout for the first year of the tournament, in 2003, with the remnants of Hurricane Isabel swamping the course for the first two days and J.L. Lewis winning on the wide-open course. Only about 50,000 spectators attended the tournament the first year.
Last year, the course tightened considerably, and the field improved with the world’s second-ranked golfer, Vijay Singh, pulling out a win and pushing the tournament further into the spotlight, earning the victory before crowds that neared 165,000.