Now in its eighth year, Charlotte's PGA Tour stop succeeds because of its timing, course and care.
By Ron Green Jr.
rgreenjr@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Apr. 26, 2010
Today: Pro-Am (Tee times 11 a.m.-12:50 p.m.; Celebrities include Stephen and Dell Curry and Michael Waltrip).
Qualifying tournament at Carolina Golf Club (four available spots in tournament field).
Tuesday: Practice rounds. Youth Exhibition 5 p.m., practice range.
Wednesday: Pro-Am (Tee times 7-8:30 a.m.; 12-1:30 p.m.; Celebrities include Jimmie Johnson, Dan Marino and Dan Jansen).
Thursday-Sunday: Tournament rounds (Play beings 7 a.m. Thursday and Friday, about 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday).
TV: Thursday-Friday 3-6 p.m., The Golf Channel; Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m., CBS.
Tickets: The event is sold out.
Things To Know
WEATHER: Practice rounds for the Wells Fargo Championship might be a bit wet, but by the end of the tournament this weekend, spectators will need sunscreen, hats and water. It'll feel like summer.
The skyboxes are constructed. The tickets are sold out. The golf course is in spectacular condition.
The eighth Wells Fargo Championship officially comes to life today at the Quail Hollow Club in south Charlotte, a local event with a national audience.
The tournament features Phil Mickelson playing for the first time since his emotional Masters victory two weeks ago; Tiger Woods making his first start in a regular PGA Tour event since the scandal surrounding his personal life erupted; and one of the strongest tournament fields in golf this year.
At a time when professional golf has occasionally struggled to keep sponsors, maintain television ratings and sustain its momentum, the Wells Fargo Championship has retained its place among the top events on the PGA Tour.
"From day one, they've had a focus on making sure everything they did and were associated with was quality driven," said Ty Votaw, executive vice president, communications and international affairs for the PGA Tour.
"All the things they have done have been done with a focus on how to make it better. I'm not saying no other tournament has that focus. But the fact they were able to do it out of the blocks made a positive impression on the players and that translated into a good experience for fans."
Perfect date, great course
Two things have been critical to the success of the Wells Fargo Championship: The venue and the date.
With rare exceptions, those two things determine how many of the best players participate in tournaments. They are more significant, in most cases, than the size of the purse.
"A great date and great golf course gets you a great field," said U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, last year's runner-up. "They take care of us and our families as well as anyone all year, and the fan support is great."
Quail Hollow is an exceptional course, one capable of hosting a major championship. Play the tournament on a different course and it becomes more likely Woods and Mickelson wouldn't play.
It's also important that Quail Hollow is played three weeks after the Masters and immediately before The Players Championship. Top players can take a break after the year's first major championship, then begin the most quality-rich stretch of the PGA Tour season.
When the tournament began in 2003, it immediately transformed what had been called "the dead zone" of the PGA Tour schedule in early May. When The Players Championship was moved to May, Quail Hollow officials demanded their event immediately precede it, knowing it would make perhaps the best back-to-back events on the tour schedule.
"Everything is connected. The course gets the players here. The players get the fans here. The fans have made it a tradition that feeds on itself," tournament chairman Mac Everett said.
In the first two years, the tournament made an impact with the perks it provided the players, flying wives on day trips to Asheville or Charleston and other extras. Some of those perks have gone away, but the tournament has developed a reputation for making it easy on players, guests and spectators.
With Wachovia and now Wells Fargo, the event hasn't had to scramble for a primary sponsor. When Wells Fargo bought Wachovia, it took its name off the event but honored its financial commitment through 2014.
Wells Fargo will have a more visible role this year at the tournament. "We are using the assets with our company," said Kendall Alley, Charlotte regional president of Wells Fargo. "We're entertaining clients and trying to drive revenue for our shareholders."
The recession had an impact. Corporate and overall spending was down approximately 10 percent last year from a high in 2007. It will be down this year as compared to '07, but up from a year ago - to the envy of many tour events.
With approximately 70 percent of the ticket buyers living within 50 miles of Charlotte, the tournament has made a point of listening to its fan base.
The tournament will send out 10,000 surveys to fans after this year's event, seeking their input on how to improve the experience. It's something they've done each year.
The tournament has notonly studied the number of portable toilets and concession stands on the course, it has evaluated the average wait times at each at different times during the day.
It could sell 5,000 or more tickets per day than the approximately 30,000 it now offers, but having more people would diminish the experience, organizers feel.
"Our tournament setup is dramatically different from what it was when we started but our core values haven't changed," tournament director Kym Hougham said.
Veteran staff makes it work
Hougham said a critical component is that key staff members have been there since the first tournament - including volunteer coordinator Paula Burnett, director of operations Tony Schuster, tournament coordinator Gwen Crow and director of marketing and sponsor relations Jan Ivey. They are able to apply what they've learned through the years to make enhancements.
Like all PGA Tour events, the Wells Fargo Championship is run by a not-for-profit organization - Champions For Education. The primary beneficiary is Teach For America, with several others, including the Levine Children's Hospital, the First Tee of Charlotte and the YMCA of Charlotte, receiving donations from the event.
Through the years, the tournament has donated more than $11 million to charity. However, it is not solely about raising money for charity.
"Some events, year in and year out, try to maximize their charitable contributions. We want to optimize our charitable contributions," Everett said. "We want to make the most of it every year, but we don't want big fluctuations in our contributions. We want to make consistent contributions."
Each year, tournament directors from other PGA Tour events come to Quail Hollow to get a look. This year, they'll see Woods and Mickelson, more than 30,000 spectators daily and a tournament that's seen as a model.
"We're never going to do what's easiest," Hougham said. "We're going to do what's best and we've done that for eight years."