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Officials say planning for next year’s event will begin today
Martin Laird of Scotland shoots out of a bunker during the 2009 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. Laird went on to win the tournament on a playoff hole.
Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 | 3:16 a.m.
Sun Coverage
- Local golfer leads headed into final day of Vegas PGA tourney (10-17-2009)
- 2007 champ still in running at charity golf tourney (10-17-2009)
- Locals looking strong in Vegas PGA Tournament (10-16-2009)
- Last year’s champ in charity golf tourney ousted (10-16-2009)
- Bonanza grad two shots off lead at PGA charity tourney (10-15-2009)
With three players engaging in a three-hole playoff to determine the champion, the 2009 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open couldn’t have ended much better for golf fans.
Tournament officials and hosts, however, are not planning a celebration. It’s time to start thinking about next year’s event.
“It’s a year-long project,” Timberlake said last week. “When we finish this week we’ll meet again next week and talk about what were the pros, what were the cons.”
That meeting is scheduled to take place today. A major emphasis will no doubt be placed on how to attract more people to TPC Summerlin for the tournament.
“The big negative is we haven’t connected to get the people out here yet,” Shriners representative Gary Dunwoody said. “We’ve just got to connect with the community to get the people out here.”
Dunwoody said the goal would be to eventually have an attendance between 18,000-20,000. Although tournament director Adam Sperling said he was pleased with this year’s attendance, it clearly wasn’t at the level Dunwoody spoke of.
But Sperling emphasized that it was an improvement from last year. Although the actual numbers will not be calculated and released until later in the week, Sperling said his staff tracked concessions sales to get an idea of the numbers.
All indicators so far are positive, he said.
“What we saw was higher numbers day-to-day, even earlier in the week,” Sperling said. “Unless people are eating twice as much this year, I expect the attendance numbers to be up.”
Sperling has reason to be optimistic for the future. Shriners is signed on for three more years as the title sponsor. Timberlake also has three years remaining on his contract as the celebrity host.
Both parties have pledged their allegiance to Las Vegas as a PGA Tour site.
“This is definitely the place to have it,” Dunwoody said. “It’s definitely Vegas, even if you have competition. It’s still a destination.”
Everyone involved agrees that the best thing for the tournament would be if it was moved to the spring and was part of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup.
Although the tournament attracted the strongest field of players out of the five PGA Tour fall series events this year, a move to the spring would be monumental as far as quality of the field. Put simply: Names like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson can solve the attendance problem almost single-handedly.
But the PGA Tour’s 2010 schedule is nearly cemented. It looks like 2011 might be the earliest possible time to get Las Vegas’ tournament into the FedEx Cup.
“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t the ultimate goal,” Sperling said. “All we can do is make this event the best we can. And if the opportunity comes up, we need to make sure we’re ready for it.”
In the meantime, Sperling said locals could expect to see the tournament name in the community more immediately. He said plans already are in the works to provide resources to charities and schools.
Sperling wants the tournament to have a presence 52 weeks a year — not one.
“If we can get into the community, you’ll see a viral effect,” Sperling said. “We’ll see a boost in ticket sales. With a boost in ticket sales, sponsors want to be at events where they can touch people.”
Timberlake said he wants the tournament to be something the community looks forward to all year.
“Hopefully, we can start making this a real tradition here at this tournament,” Timberlake said. “That’s really my goal — to start growing this tournament and some traditions outside the tournament.”
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I totally support the shriners (I am one) and the community effort. What is hard is pulling from a small percentage of people who (right now) can afford to attend, etc..entertainment is probably the bottom of their list. Its a great tournament and I would be happy if it stayed here either in the spring or fall..putting people in the gates is always the hardest job of them all. Contact me if you need me to sign on to help.
In talking to people in the media at the UNLV game - I was suprised to hear how the Shriners Golf Tournament who needs every ounce of press actually turned away media?
This tournament has been such an after thought for so many sports fans. The tourney has been unfortunate that it has not had more big names as Champions to help promote the event.
If I dont hear about this event taking place, I would have never thought about it. The Shriners and Timberlake are great additions. But, the people running this tourney need all of the promotion that they can get.
Who even thought about watching the event on TV? I did not even think about it against football. If I was Tourney Director - I would come out from behind the magic door and be more accessible to Joe Sports Fan all year round - instead of just for 30 days leading into the event.
If your work begins today - why not try to get connected with the media and Joe Sports Fan by introducing yourself away from the golf course. This has been the part that the guys at the Speedway understood right away and no one running this tournament has ever understood. You have to be visible and be involved, not just to the country club set - but to everyone in town.
You can not control the PGA moving this event to Spring, which is needed. What you can control is how you promote yourself and sport from now until next tourney. Since most local media is at the UNLV game, walk into the press box and see how few of these faces you know. Work on this and you have a better chance than the past leaders of this event.
When my daughter moved to Las Vegas last week, the first thing she had signed up to do was volunteer at this tournament. On one of the days she was scheduled to volunteer at the Shriner's Open, she arrived only to find that volunteers were not needed for that evening. She noticed a lack of enthusiasm in general. The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful, the charity was worthy and deserving, the host was charismatic, and it couldn't have been easier to take the shuttle to the golf course. Somehow, to us, it just didn't all "click". With all these elements in place, I find it sad that more golf fans/spectators were not present. At the Turning Stone tourney in our home state last month, crowds braved bitter cold and rain to see the PGA Pros play. Where were all the local Vegas golf/sports fans this week? Every local pro at every golf club in the Las Vegas area should have been promoting their game and this tournament. You have the potential for a much greater event here... Best of luck in the next 3 years!
Its $15 to get in and free parking, that should be the message. What else can you do in this town for that much?
I think the obvious problem though is location, just like with the tennis tournament. Summerlin is a fantastic location in terms of setting and drawing in the right demographic of locals, but it ignores the obvious resource of the 200,000 visitors in town. If they could ever get the golf or tennis on the Strip it would see a huge bump in attendance. Probably even enough to invest quite a bit into getting the courses tougher to make it interesting for PGA players.
In any event the marketing of the event to draw in tourists has to get better. Locals are clearly showing their apathy for second-class events and minor league sports. Unless they get stars of the sport here none of these events are going to draw enough locals.
Who can think about spending the money for a golf event ticket when we are trying to survive on our unemployment checks and our homes have lost 56% of their value. Oh, wait cnn money reported today that we are in for an additional 27% dump in housing values in Vegas. Everyone I know is UNEMPLOYED.
To the Tourney Organizers:
Last year we attended the tournament. Did three days of the tourney. Bought the tickets. Shelled out for the burgers and dogs. Spent the disposable moola on beers. Things have dramatically deteriorated in Vegas since then. In our little circle we have had a layoff from a 70k year casino dealing job and unemployment is just about to run out. We do not eat out or attend golf tournaments any more. It was the first luxury to be cut. Multiply us by 200,000 + others and there is the overwhelming problem. We would have loved to attend this year.
Planning ahead is great idea. To promote this event, not only for the local community to attend, but also for tourists to visit Las Vegas and the Summerlin area. It is great promotion for a beautiful area of Las Vegas. Wishing the Tournament, the Shriner's Hospital organization and the community great success in the coming years! Thank you Justin Timberlake for putting in all of your efforts for a great cause!
Adam Sperling needs to bring back the food that was there last year when they had top restaurants from the strip represented, they even had tri trip for 5 bucks, you can't beat that.
Bring back the tri tip Adam.