Players well on way to another sellout
03/18/2008 by Mike Sharkey Staff Writer This year’s Players Championship marks a first and a last. Ron Cross has taken over for Brian Goin as the tournament’s vice president and executive director. However, after 22 years making the Stadium Course as nice as humanly possible for golf’s strongest field, Superintendent Fred Klauk is working his last tournament in an official capacity. Monday, both met with members of the media to talk about this year’s Players which is set for May 8-11. Cross joked that he has so much experienced help around him that his job right now is primarily to get out the way.“I am trying not to screw it up too bad,” he said. “That’s my job. The (tournament) team has been around a long, long time and they are the ones who make it happen.” Klauk, who will stay on as a consultant for a year, said he doesn’t have any plans to trick the course up for his final tournament. Last year’s major course renovations, including going to all bermudagrass, has kept him busy. “We are doing the same things we have done for the past 22 years,” said Klauk. “It will be the same fair setup as always.” Cross has a full-time staff of 10, over 2,000 volunteers and hundreds of PGA Tour employees just a short ride down the road to help him. “There are several hundred people at the Tour headquarters and all of them have a role,” said Cross. “All of them are integral to the tournament’s success and I am fortunate to have the entire Tour team involved from marketing to broadcasting to legal.” Cross said ticket sales are ahead of last year’s pace and he believes The Players will sell out about a week before play begins. Along with the volunteers and Players Chairman Ron Natherson, Cross has become the tournament’s top ambassador the past few months. And, while he may downplay his role this year, Cross has big plans for what’s considered golf’s “fifth” major. “Parking has been the limitation,” he said. “To grow the national fan base, we need more parking.” Cross said he’d like to see the daily tournament attendance grow from the current 40,000 to 50,000 over the next 5-10 years. “This will not happen overnight, but I do see the day when tickets become a renewal process like Augusta (where The Masters is played),” said Cross. “Your name would go into a database and go on a waiting list. I see that happening in the next several years.” This year’s sponsors are familiar names: JELD-WEN, the Klamath Falls, Ore.-based window and door manufacturer; UBS, which has headquarters in both Basel and Zurich, Switzerland and is a wealth management, banking and securities firm; and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which handles assurances and provides tax and financial advising services.
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