Six friends - including my brother Brad - visited with two other friends in Scottsdale this weekend, playing a private course there, The Country Club at DC Ranch.
I love visiting the desert, especially this time of year. Dry air, brilliant sunshine, fast greens ... it's a great place to escape the winter back East.
It just happened to also be the week of the FBR Open, what we used to call the Phoenix Open. I don't know the stats, but I'm told more than 100,000 people attend the event, the charitable contributions are significant, and it's a big boost to the local economy.
How do they do it? Compare it to Greensboro's PGA Tour event, now the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts something or another, known to many of us who grew up there as the Greater Greensboro Open, or GGO. The GGO is played on Forest Oaks, a marginal course located more than 20 miles southeast of Greensboro - away from High Point and Winston-Salem.
Here in Phoenix (actually, Scottsdale), ticket sales are brisk, there's that great stadium on the par 3 17th, there's reportedly the largest all-day ('til 10p) cocktail party on the Tour at a tent village called the Bird's Nest. All this stuff and fun and excitement. And in Greensboro the organizers have difficulty selling 10,000 tickets to individuals.
In 2007 the GGO has new dates in August, it's part of the FedEx Cup and finally the Jaycees have been pushed out of the leadership roles. There's a new lease on life for the event. Let's hope they can create some real excitement with their new opportunity. Hey, if I wanted to watch a golf tournament, I'd turn on TV.
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