by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Downtown will not turn into a ghost town this week when The Players Championship makes its annual visit. However, more than a few folks will be tough to find, at least in their offices.
A few factors tend to dictate who plays hooky and who simply plans to spend more time in Sawgrass than downtown: who you work for, what you do and the weather. Take Brad Thoburn, Director of State and Federal Affairs for Mayor John Peyton. An avid golfer who can stake claim to a high school victory over David Duval, Thoburn would like nothing more than to attend a couple
practice rounds this week and
at least Friday’s second round.
As usual, with the Legislative
session in full swing, that will be impossible.
“Generally speaking, with the session going, I can’t go to anything early. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are out,” said Thoburn, adding that may change as the weekend rounds get underway. “For me, as a golfer, to see the competition and the leaders, it’s hard to beat being there.”
Good luck finding anyone at the Gator Bowl Association’s offices in Alltel Stadium next week. Outside of a few staying downtown to answer the phone, most staffers will be at the Stadium Course enjoying the sunshine, the golf and time away from the office. And, that’s just fine with GBA President Rick Catlett.
“It doesn’t really affect our office because we take all of our corporate clients to the TPC,” said Catlett.
“We heavily use the tournament
for clients and we have a 17th green chalet. It’s harder to find a Gator Bowl employee at the offices
that week than at the Stadium Course. It’s a major week for corporate hospitality at the fifth major in golf.”
Catlett said he is taking Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese and Big East Senior Associate Commissioner Nick Carparelli to the practice round today. On Thursday and Friday, the GBA will take members of the Gator Bowl Committee to the first two rounds and on Saturday and Sunday will entertain its corporate sponsors.
“There will be four or five Gator Bowl Association staffers at the tournament at any given time,” said Catlett.
With 360 employees and a golf-friendly boss in President Richard Danford, it would seem like plenty of the employees at the Urban League would be headed to Ponte Vedra next week. Danford said he’ll get down to the tournament a few times, but it’s not like his offices will empty out for the week midday Thursday.
“We have a few that love to go,” said Danford, adding that only about 25 of the Urban League’s employees work out of the organization’s headquarters at Union and Davis streets across from The Ritz Theater. “We may buy two or three tickets, but I get comp tickets from our corporate members and pass them off to the staff. It’s a morale boost for them to get time off; maybe come in a work half a day and leave for the tournament around lunch time. Even though we are a not-for-profit, it’s still good to get out and have our faces seen.”
Danford takes two approaches to TPC week: plan to attend specific days and play
the others by ear. While he’ll be playing in the RS&H tournament on Thursday,
Danford managed to see the practice rounds. He says the relaxed atmosphere of the practice rounds is great because it’s easier to get autographs and the rules allow you to bring a camera. As for the weekend rounds, like the tournament itself, Danford goes into
another mode.
“I love Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “I just love following Tiger Woods. And this year, if Phil [Mickelson] and Vijay [Singh] and Tiger all are at the top, it’s going to be great.”
Jim Terrell of Brown, Terrell and Hogan said most of his Blackstone Building firm will be at work. A 10-handicapper, Terrell said he’ll get down to the tournament a couple of times, but for the most part it will be business as usual.
“There will be no mass exodus here. Some of our lawyers will probably sneak out,” said Terrell, who plans to go on Friday and Saturday and watch Sunday’s final round on TV. Who knows, he may even get a phone call from a touring pro that doesn’t make the cut like he did in 2000.
Terrell, a member of Pablo Creek, said he got a call late that Friday afternoon from someone representing Sergio Garcia asking if he could arrange a round the next day at Pablo Creek for Garcia, who had just missed the cut at The Players.
“I played with Sergio, his dad who is a teaching pro in Spain and Sergio’s manager,” said Terrell, explaining that Garcia played from the back tees and hit the longest tee shot on the difficult 18th hole he’d ever seen. “He flew the trap on the right and had 140 yards to the green. He shot 71 that day from the back tees.”
The Players Championship presents an interesting quandary for Jacksonville Suns owner and general manager Peter Bragan, Jr. On the one hand, his team is one the verge of starting another Southern League season and, on the other, he’d like to give his employees a little much-needed time off.
“It’s a nice perk for them,” said Bragan. “I have worked them to death for most of the month of March, and by now we have gotten a lot of stuff done, so I try to spread it around if I get some tickets.”
Personally, Bragan is a big fan of the tournament and struggled to remember if
he’s missed at least one day of play the 21 years he’s been in Jacksonville. As the
Double A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, this year may prove to be a dilemma
for Bragan. The Dodgers are hosting the Atlanta Braves in Vero Beach on Easter Sunday, the same day as the tournament’s final round, and Bragan would really like to go to the game. Like many other golf fans, however, what’s going on at the top of the leaderboard will dictate what Bragan does.
“If Tiger and Phil are at the top, I may stick around here,” he said. “If someone has a nine-stroke lead, I may to the tournament Saturday and the baseball game on Sunday.”