1-Year Countdown Begins For Area's New PGA Tour Date On Florida Golf Course
This is the week, and today is the day. In 12 months the PGA Tour is scheduled to be in town to begin first-round play at Innisbrook Resort on a Florida Golf Course for a tournament that, as of right now, has neither a sponsor's name nor a contract guaranteeing it a golf course to play.
Other than that, next year at this time should be a real blast.
"Next year will be great," Davis Love III said. "There will be those four tournaments on Florida golf courses that I know I want to play."
After this fall the PGA Tour event that has been the Chrysler Championship and played in October will move to a March date and take a spot as the second week of the high-profile Florida Swing.
After completing its early-season trip around the West Coast, the tour will come to Florida for the Honda Classic at its new home at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, and then make its way to Tampa Bay. The Arnold Palmer Invitational (formerly Bay Hill) in Orlando follows and then Doral, which has been the first stop on the Florida Swing since 1987, will be the site of a big-money World Golf Championship event the fourth week of the month, all on Florida golf courses.
Two weeks later, and a month after Tampa Bay, comes the Masters Tournament.
It is a reworking of the schedule that appears to have sent a jolt through the routine-weary ranks.
"I think everybody is happy in Florida," said Love, a member of the tour's player advisory council. "Everybody has improved, and that's the thing we've been trying to tell the other players - that the whole new system has made everything better."
Except for a couple of pesky details.
"This is our week," Tampa Bay tournament director Gerald Goodman said. "Great weather. It's going to be wonderful. But no, we have no news as far as a title sponsor or Florida golf course."
The title sponsorship, while worrisome, is expected to take care of itself. The PGA Tour is courting potential candidates, and a spring date in Florida during a time much of the country is still in shivering cold will be one of its easier sells.
Not so promising have been negotiations with Innisbrook officials. While the acclaimed Copperhead Course is one of the major reasons Tampa Bay received the coveted spring date, resort officials have questioned the benefit of hosting the tournament during what is already a busy tourist month.
"We feel confident we'll get this finished," Goodman said. "I'm being positive."
He certainly hopes so. If the demands of 2007 are not enough, there is the fact that Goodman and his staff still must host this year's tournament in October before turning around and doing it again four months later.
"We are going to have two tournaments on Innisbrook Florida golf courses within 17 weeks of each other," he said. "Unprecedented. Never before done on the PGA Tour. … Do you think I'm having any stress?"
Goodman can take solace from history. What tournaments have done during the years to give golf resorts an identity may be reflected best by Miami's Doral. For 42 years it has been a staple of the PGA Tour's spring broadcasts and has become famous for its appeal to northern television viewers stuck in snow and dreaming of a Florida golf trip.
Now, with the spring date, even PGA Tour players are allowing themselves to look ahead.
"Playing Innisbrook in an overseeded condition vs. the Bermuda, it's going to play totally different," Fred Funk said. "It'll be a lot softer, more like we had with the JCPenney years ago. Most of us like it. It's a demanding Florida golf course and it's pretty tough in those conditions."
But what any golf fan - and maybe more those who are not - wants to know is how the new dates might fit into Tiger Woods' schedule.
"Well, I'm going to look at it a little more in depth, where I need to schedule my breaks and get organized," Woods said.
"So, obviously, it affects it a little bit because it's not the same order, and obviously, having a World Golf Championship, you want to be ready for that."
Other than that, next year at this time should be a real blast.
"Next year will be great," Davis Love III said. "There will be those four tournaments on Florida golf courses that I know I want to play."
After this fall the PGA Tour event that has been the Chrysler Championship and played in October will move to a March date and take a spot as the second week of the high-profile Florida Swing.
After completing its early-season trip around the West Coast, the tour will come to Florida for the Honda Classic at its new home at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, and then make its way to Tampa Bay. The Arnold Palmer Invitational (formerly Bay Hill) in Orlando follows and then Doral, which has been the first stop on the Florida Swing since 1987, will be the site of a big-money World Golf Championship event the fourth week of the month, all on Florida golf courses.
Two weeks later, and a month after Tampa Bay, comes the Masters Tournament.
It is a reworking of the schedule that appears to have sent a jolt through the routine-weary ranks.
"I think everybody is happy in Florida," said Love, a member of the tour's player advisory council. "Everybody has improved, and that's the thing we've been trying to tell the other players - that the whole new system has made everything better."
Except for a couple of pesky details.
"This is our week," Tampa Bay tournament director Gerald Goodman said. "Great weather. It's going to be wonderful. But no, we have no news as far as a title sponsor or Florida golf course."
The title sponsorship, while worrisome, is expected to take care of itself. The PGA Tour is courting potential candidates, and a spring date in Florida during a time much of the country is still in shivering cold will be one of its easier sells.
Not so promising have been negotiations with Innisbrook officials. While the acclaimed Copperhead Course is one of the major reasons Tampa Bay received the coveted spring date, resort officials have questioned the benefit of hosting the tournament during what is already a busy tourist month.
"We feel confident we'll get this finished," Goodman said. "I'm being positive."
He certainly hopes so. If the demands of 2007 are not enough, there is the fact that Goodman and his staff still must host this year's tournament in October before turning around and doing it again four months later.
"We are going to have two tournaments on Innisbrook Florida golf courses within 17 weeks of each other," he said. "Unprecedented. Never before done on the PGA Tour. … Do you think I'm having any stress?"
Goodman can take solace from history. What tournaments have done during the years to give golf resorts an identity may be reflected best by Miami's Doral. For 42 years it has been a staple of the PGA Tour's spring broadcasts and has become famous for its appeal to northern television viewers stuck in snow and dreaming of a Florida golf trip.
Now, with the spring date, even PGA Tour players are allowing themselves to look ahead.
"Playing Innisbrook in an overseeded condition vs. the Bermuda, it's going to play totally different," Fred Funk said. "It'll be a lot softer, more like we had with the JCPenney years ago. Most of us like it. It's a demanding Florida golf course and it's pretty tough in those conditions."
But what any golf fan - and maybe more those who are not - wants to know is how the new dates might fit into Tiger Woods' schedule.
"Well, I'm going to look at it a little more in depth, where I need to schedule my breaks and get organized," Woods said.
"So, obviously, it affects it a little bit because it's not the same order, and obviously, having a World Golf Championship, you want to be ready for that."
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