Business is heating up for 2012 PGA Championship

In August, much of the sporting world's attention will focus on a little round ball being knocked around on the toughest golf course in America at Kiawah Island.

The 2012 PGA Championship on the Ocean Course is expected to be viewed during 154 hours of live television coverage by 673 million households in 207 countries.

The Aug. 6-12 event is projected to draw 210,000 spectators during its seven-day run. More than 50,000 of those will come from out-of-town, filling up hotels and restaurants across metro Charleston and stimulating the local economy at a time of year when the sultry temperatures tend to keep visitors off the streets and at the beach in the nation's No. 1 tourist destination.

The tournament will bring in about $10.6 million from hospitality suite sales. It also is expected to generate about $92 million in direct spending within the local economy, $26 million in labor income, supporting 832 jobs, and another $75 million in media exposure, according to the PGA and an analysis by the College of Charleston.

Many of the tickets to the main events sold out last summer. Only a few remain for the opening round Thursday of that week and the practice rounds on the three days before.

But the biggest sporting event to ever descend on South Carolina is already having an impact.

All of those visitors have to eat and sleep somewhere, and reservations are being booked throughout the region.

Greater Charleston boasts just under 17,000 hotel rooms, with 15,000 of those in Charleston County alone, according to the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

A chunk of those already are booked or blocked off, and the reservations are starting to bite into restaurant space as well.

Rooms at Kiawah Island were committed two years ago to the 156 golfers, caddies and PGA officials, said Jeanne Jamme, 2012 PGA Championship hospitality manager.

Kiawah Island Golf Resort has several houses and is working with rental agencies, she said.

Others who own homes on the island are listing them online at www.vrbo.com. The initials stand for "vacation rentals by owner." More than 200 homes have already been booked for all or part of that week, according to the website. Hundreds more are listed.

"A lot of owners are renting their house that normally do not through vrbo.com," Jamme said.

Spreading out

Many ticketholders are seeking accommodations well beyond the resort island, namely out of necessity.

"Having a room on Kiawah was never an option for all of our corporate clients," Jamme said. "And most of them are from out of town. Most of the downtown hotels are booking our corporate groups."

The Marriott's Courtyard Waterfront Hotel on Lockwood Drive is set aside for media.

Across the Ashley River, rooms at hotels in the Ripley Point area have been blocked off as well. Half of the 440 rooms at Charleston Place Hotel have been reserved for that week by several groups, which is not normal for that time of year this far in advance, said Paul Stracey, general manager.

Jamme said about 5,000 room nights have been blocked off near the Charleston Area Convention Center in North Charleston for the influx of PGA staff members, vendors and others coming in to work the tournament, and hotels in Mount Pleasant such as the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina are starting to see business as well.

"During a recent meeting that the CVB had, they met with directors of sales at the hotels in downtown and asked how many had seen business so far from the championship," Jamme said she was told. "Fourteen of 14 said they have booked groups for that week associated with the PGA, and all of this is outside of the individual ticket purchaser coming in for the week on their own."

Hotelier Hank Holliday, who owns the 62-room Planters Inn and the 212-room Doubletree, both near the City Market, said bookings for PGA week are well above average and some people are coming in before the tournament and staying after it's over.

"Our advance corporate bookings are excellent, and we are picking up quite a bit of business on both ends of that week," he said.

Holliday added: "It appears at this point it will be a real economic bonanza for Charleston."

As for the restaurants he also owns -- Peninsula Grill, Hanks and Mercato -- he said visitors get their accommodations first and worry about where to eat later. "But if the rooms are full, we will invariably be full at the restaurants, too," he said.

Advance notice

A few blocks away, Hospitality Management Group has already booked three large groups of about 60 people at two of its restaurants, Magnolias and Cypress.

"It's all corporate ticketholders of the PGA event," said T.J. Parsell, president of the restaurant group.

The prospect for more bookings looks promising because of other interested groups this far in advance, and the added exposure will be priceless, he said.

"I think it's going to bring national recognition to Charleston's unique culture and charm, and acquaint a new audience that might not have been exposed to our culinary community," Parsell said.

PGA officials added several hospitality packages on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes for corporate groups, and that's where the Convention and Visitors Bureau stepped in.

"Every time a corporate hospitality suite would be sold, we would help them find a hotel for their group," said CVB executive director Helen Hill. "We were the middle man between corporations and hotels. Now we are in the process of helping individuals and small groups. We recently booked a group from the U.K. They are only going to the tournament for one day, and then they will be enjoying Charleston the rest of the time."

Hill said people are looking for every kind of accommodation, "from the diehard golfer who just wants a place to rest his head at night to the person who is using this as an excuse for a vacation to enjoy the beach for themselves."

Jamme added that people should not wait to make reservations.

"I would start making my plans now," she said.

Tickets have sold in 44 states and up to 10 countries, said Brett Sterba, PGA Championship director.

"The last time there was anything of this magnitude in Charleston was the Ryder Cup in 1991," Sterba said, referring to a famous golf event that helped put the then-new Ocean Course and even Kiawah on the map. "There is no comparison between the two. This is so much bigger."

Package deals

Five villages will be set up at the Ocean Course's final three holes on Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship next August.

The event is one of professional golf's four "major" annual events and will draw the game's top talent to the Charleston area.

PGA officials recently added three private hospitality packages on the 16th and 18th holes. Seven of the 54 semi-private packages on the 17th hole remain.

The newly added package on the 16th hole will have views of the 16th green and the 17th hole. It's air-conditioned with wrap-around porches and is one of the premier packages being offered. It's available for 75 or 100 people daily. Prices are $200,000 to $280,000 for the week, including food, beverages and open bar service.

Added on the 18th hole are separate 50-person and 100-person private suites. They include air-conditioning on the ground floor and an open-air observation deck on the second level. Prices are $140,000 and $280,000, respectively.

Still remaining on the 17th hole surrounding the green are seven of the 54 packages at $57,000 each per week in the double-decker Dunes Skybox.

Here the clients have a reserved box for 25 people per day, and they share all of the food and beverages with the other clients. This is where a lot of the Charleston, South Carolina and Southeastern regional companies are located.

Also on No. 17 is the Champions Club, a structure similar to the Dunes Skybox, but it can be customized from $700 per ticket per day to $25,000 for a week.

"It's like a Chinese menu," said Jeanne Jamme, PGA Championship hospitality sales manager. "You can make your own package."

Reach Warren L. Wise at 937-5524 or twitter.com/warrenlancewise.