Shriners Hoping Spieth, Fowler Appearances Will Help PGA Event Attendance At TPC Summerlin
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Friday’s news of big-name golfer Jordan Spieth joining fellow PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Summerlin has the non-profit, Tampa, Fla.-based Shriners International group thinking that attendance will be up at the annual golf event in a few weeks.
Spieth, who has 2 million Twitter followers, and Fowler, who has 1.64 million Twitter followers, have lots of fans who hopefully will pay to see them at the Shriners Open Oct. 29-Nov. 4, said James E. “Ed” Stolze, Jr., the Shriners chairman of the golf tourney.
Stolze said attendance was in the 38,000-39,000 range last year and he believes the Spieth-Fowler combo should goose those numbers upward.
The Shriners have the title sponsorship of the PGA event at TPC Summerlin through 2020. Stolze said last year the non-profit organization had a $12 million-$15 million financial commitment to the event in terms of all types of spending from the title sponsorship and playing tourney host to the group’s share of the purse and hotel accommodations. Read that story here.
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Stolze said that this year tourney fans will pass the Shriners Hospital experience as they head for the course at the tournament and the event will have 26-30 patients plus national patient ambassadors on hand to talk with visitors.
The PGA event has also changed the configuration of the 12-14 suites at the 18th green, opening half the hospitality suite to the green to offer improved views of the final hole’s green, Stolze said.
The Shriners event is not one of the Las Vegas’ biggest sports events, but the organization believes its multi-million-dollar investment in the PGA event produces exposure for the Shriners that prompts donations to the non-profit.
Stolze said he would like to see the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which typically buys a hospitality suite at the golf tourney, provide a bigger sponsorship to the Shriners Open.
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