by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Once again, The Players Championship is a sell out.
Sure, there are a smattering of tickets that went unsold — as of Monday morning, the Queen’s Harbour Publix had a few left for Thursday, Friday and Saturday rounds — but for the most part, if you don’t have a ticket by now, you’ll probably have to watch Tiger Woods defend his 2001 Players title from the comfort of your couch.
While the Phoenix Open proudly boasts of having daily crowds well in excess of 100,000, Players Championship and PGA Tour officials long ago established a crowd figure that they feel is both comfortable and safe for fans. In Phoenix, the tournament is played at the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale, a facility that has abundant gallery room — one of the main reasons tournament officials seem to open the flood gates for fans. And, even though well over 100,000 people will head to the Stadium Course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach over the next four days, the daily attendance has been capped.
“What we consider a sell out is 35,000 fans per day for the competition days [Thursday through Sunday],” said Ana Leaird, director of public relations and media operations for the Tour.
Leaird said there is one simple reason the Tour hasn’t pursued the massive crowds for the Players that attend other events.
“That’s what we can accommodate for parking,” said Leaird of the 35,000 figure. “We could cram another 20,000 people in here every day, but there’s no parking for them.”
All things considered, attending the Players Championship is relatively affordable compared to other major sporting events. The price for a Players Championship ticket varies greatly. For $45, you can purchase a one-day ticket for any of the four days of play. (The practice rounds are $25 a day.) If cost is no objective, the best non-corporate tent ticket available is a Clubhouse pass that goes for $318 for the whole tournament — about $80 a day — and you can stay all day if you choose.
Despite the obvious differences, the Players Championship and a Jacksonville Jaguars game do share one similarity — not having a ticket doesn’t have to be a problem. With the exception of the 1999 playoff game against the Miami Dolphins — a game in which tickets were almost impossible to find — scalpers hover around Alltel Stadium on game day on a regular basis. Scalpers are also evident during Players week. Need a ticket? Just head down A1A and you’ll see plenty of people selling one-day tickets. Like any other event, the price is negotiated between buyer and seller.
Leaird said neither the Tour nor Players Championship officials are overtly happy about the scalpers, but they quietly look at it as a sign that there are more people interested in attending the tournament than there are tickets available, especially because the scalpers seem to be sold out by late morning, especially on the weekend.
“We are probably not crazy about the scalpers,” said Leaird, adding that many of them purchase multiple tickets shortly after they go on sale in November. “We want the public to be able to purchase them for themselves. Then again, it’s great to know that there’s that kind of demand for Players Championship tickets.”
Although the Tour cannot control the scalpers or how many tickets they have, one thing they do know is that the tickets are legitimate. There are probably more counterfeit bills floating around Jacksonville than counterfeit Players Championship tickets which, according to Leaird, are virtually impossible to replicate. The reason is simple: even Tour and Players Championship officials have no idea what each year’s ticket will look until right before they go on sale.
“They [counterfeiters] will have a hard time getting a hold of that artwork,” said Leaird, referring to the appearance of the ticket.
This year’s tickets, both week passes and day passes, depict Woods hitting his tee shot on No. 13, a par 3 that requires an accurate tee shot over water. The Bart Forbes print was selected from dozens of photos of Woods taken during the week.
The ticket itself, however, does present a bit of an attendance dilemma for tournament officials because of its physical make-up. Unlike most other major sporting events, a Players Championship ticket doesn’t come with an assigned seat. And, it doesn’t have a removable stub. Because there aren’t turnstiles at most of the course’s entrances, deciphering exactly how many people attend the tournament every day is an inexact science at best. Also, Leaird concedes, there isn’t much officials can do to prevent multiple people from using a single ticket over the course of a day.
Again, this facet has two sides. While it may be cheating to an extent, it also reveals the demand level and increases concession revenues. However, according to Leaird, the tickets are quickly becoming the souvenir of choice from the tournament.
“People keep them as collector’s items because the defending champion is used for the artwork on the ticket,” explained Leaird. “I know people who clamor to keep them for their collection.”