PGA Championship to be state's largest sporting event ever

The biggest sporting event ever to come to South Carolina might be two years away, but local preparation work unfolds daily where the road stops at the very tip of Kiawah Island and a lush golf course hugs the sandy beach.

The PGA of America announced in 2005 that it would hold the 94th PGA Championship at The Ocean Course in 2012. That means welcoming names such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, business executives landing in corporate jets, plus 27,000 eager spectators and some 580 million households tuning in across the world.

Shortly after the announcement, the College of Charleston's Office of Tourism Analysis estimated the local economic impact at nearly $83.7 million. The study also notes that its figures are conservative.

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PGA at Kiawah

The PGA of America announced in 2005 that it would hold the 94th PGA Championship at The Ocean Course in 2012.

The event frequently draws comparison to the 1991 Ryder Cup and its infusion of cash and recognition for the Lowcountry. But the world was less connected then, and Kiawah Island and its facilities were still maturing. The luxurious Sanctuary Hotel didn't exist, and neither did The Ocean Course's current clubhouse.

Organizers who feel the buzz about this upcoming tournament every day say the exposure to the island and to Charleston shown in 154 hours of live broadcast can't be quantified.

All about experience

PGA of America installed a championship director, Brett Sterba, more than a year ago. It brought on Jeanne Jamme to manage hospitality sales in February.

Without any advertisement beyond word of mouth, she already has sold more than half of her packages for oceanfront suites on the 18th hole and has a verbal commitment claiming a full two-thirds of them.

Corporate customers buy space -- some air-conditioned and all catered and decorated -- at key positions around the course, where they can court clients over cocktails and sport. They range from single-day, single-person passes on the 17th tee for $700 to the $350,000 starting price for taking over the shop on the ground floor of the clubhouse, a building completed in 2007 but designed to look as if it's been there forever.

Sitting in the players' lounge on its second floor, the smell of the green leather couches filling the room and the Atlantic Ocean sparkling through a large bay window, Sterba and Jamme say the PGA set a sales goal of $9.6 million and expects to sell about 80 percent of the packages to people and groups spending $25,000 or less.

That's significant because, as Jamme explains, "unlike other PGA championships where you don't have lots of families, we do."

The single-day, single-person option appeals to both local property owners and small businesses with limited budgets. It's not something the PGA typically offers, according to Sterba.

"We want to make sure there's something for any company that has one client," Sterba. "We wouldn't want to shut anyone out."

The 2012 event captures that attitude in unusual ways. The packages come turnkey ready, with food, beverages and decor all handled within the asking price. Traditional sponsorship, such as signs and other on-course branding, takes a back seat to this cleaner way of making money.

Plus, the target audience size of 27,000 people falls 30 percent short of the typical PGA Championship crowd.

Sterba said that decision ensures that a 7-year-old spectator can see the action without standing behind six rows of tall adults. The Ocean Course could hold more people, he added, and the grassy space alongside Freshfields shopping center on the way onto the island can handle additional parked cars -- "but it's not fun."

"The more people you try to put on a golf course, the more it diminishes the experience," Sterba said. "It's a math thing here."

Awareness and money

Speaker of the S.C. House Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican, and Kiawah Island Golf Resort President Roger Warren head up the Champions Committee, a task force of 23 leaders from around the state whom Harrell describes as "helping to raise awareness and money, but not necessarily in that order."

He sees those chief executives coming to town not just as high-dollar tourists but in the same way the executives see the clients they're entertaining here: as economic prospects. Harrell calls that possibility to lure new business to the area as the most important function of the tournament.

Warren said the area has never seen anything like the PGA Championship, which attracts more of the top players in the world than any other tournament. The event will make The Ocean Course only the fifth course in history to host each of the PGA's major championships, with the Ryder Cup in 1991 and the PGA Senior Championship in 2007.

"It will be a phenomenal event for the resort, for the island and for the region," Warren said.

Stephen Youngner, head golf professional at The Ocean Course, said internationally ranked players started showing up on Kiawah Island in the past year to practice the notoriously challenging course. Golf Digest placed it at the top of its list of America's 50 toughest golf courses in 2007, and players dubbed it "Looney Dunes" during the Ryder Cup.

It was also the only course ever awarded the Ryder Cup before it was completed, and many insiders argue that the dramatic sporting event that took shape on the island in 1991 helped boost the Ryder Cup to its current regard.

Youngner and championship director Sterba point out that because The Ocean Course is public, people will want to come to Kiawah to test their skills against the performances they watch live and on television.

"Twenty years later, we're still talking about the Ryder Cup," Sterba said. "Twenty years from now, there's no telling what we'll be saying about the PGA Championship."

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.