NEW FOCUS: Success of Wyndham based on regionalism

GREENSBORO -- When it comes to sponsorship of a professional golf tournament in these economic times, it can sometimes be nerve-wracking.

But in the case of the Wyndham Championship, there appears to be a love fest going on between tournament officials, Wyndham and the PGA Tour.

The four-year contract between Wyndham and the tour is good through next year's tournament, but a two-year option to extend the arrangement is likely. There may even be a longer extension in the works.

The Wyndham Championship, which will be held Aug. 20-23 at Sedgefield Country Club, picked up a lot of traction last year with the move from Forest Oaks. There was more of a buzz at the tournament, and with that came more paying customers.

Kevin Rinker, a vice president of sports marketing for Wyndham, says that he has been more than pleased with the arrangement.

Rinker says that the direction the tournament is heading is right on pace with what Wyndham expected. And that's because of Bobby Long, the chairman of the charitable foundation board that runs the tournament, and Mark Brazil, the tournament director.

"We've made it clear to Mark and Bobby that we have an unusual relationship, in that I think the PGA Tour would say is unusual because we are sort of in lock-step when it comes to decisions," Rinker said.

Rinker says that watching the tournament progress -- thanks to making it more of a regional event -- has been impressive.

"A typical title sponsor relationship with an organization that runs the event is lukewarm at best," Rinker said. "But because of Bobby and Mark and the relationship we've built with them personally, they get what we are trying to achieve. They get where we are trying to go."

It used to be that the tournament was considered more of a Greensboro thing to do, but that has all changed during the last four or five years. Long made sure of that by recruiting high-ranking business leaders to be included on the tournament's foundation board.

Long has also made sure to include community leaders outside of Guilford County for other duties. Kelly King, the chief executive officer of BB&T Corp. in Winston-Salem, was named the honorary chairman for this year's tournament. It's the third straight year that the honorary chairman was chosen from outside Guilford County.

Also, last week at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem there was a Wyndham Championship cocktail party and an opportunity to hear about the regionalism of the tournament. It was another way to get the tournament's name out there.

Brazil stopped short when asked whether marketing the tournament beyond Guilford County saved it from extinction. But as the tournament celebrates 70 years of being a PGA Tour stop, Brazil said he sees the impact with the nearly sold-out sponsorship opportunities. And a lot of those sponsors have come from the Triad.

"A lot of our success has been based on regionalism," Brazil said. "It's Bobby's goal to use the Wyndham Championship to promote this region all around the world."

Rinker said that Wyndham has certainly seen the regionalism as a great marketing tool.

"I can tell you, from where we sit that makes sense," he said. "It's the right thing to do, business-wise and with the community."

After the tournament later this month, the foundation board will start having discussions with Wyndham about the future. There's a two-year renewable option after the 2010 tournament that will be discussed, according to Rinker and Brazil.

There's also the possibility that the PGA Tour could offer Wyndham a better long-term sponsorship deal. The four-year deal was worth about $7.5 million, according to sources.

"There are a lot of discussions that will take place after this tournament," Rinker said. "The conversations are going to be, do you want to renew? Do you want to take the two-year option and see how it goes? And some of that will be PGA Tour-related as well and what they might want."

In the uncertain world of title sponsors, Wyndham already has built up some seniority on the PGA Tour.

"It's hard to believe when you look around this is our third year and we already have seniority on four tournaments," Rinker said. "That's kind of frightening."

Wyndham reputation grows

Carl Pettersson, the defending champion of the Wyndham Championship, flirted with a 59 last year but settled for a 61 at Sedgefield Country Club.

He set the scoring record for the tournament at 21 under and said he's heard a lot of good things from players on the PGA Tour. The players don't mind having the chance to make a lot of birdies.

"I've heard some good stuff," Pettersson said about the reputation of the Wyndham. "With Wyndham taking over and being a great sponsor and getting behind the tournament, that's helped. Two or three years ago we nearly lost the whole tournament, but moving it over here to Sedgefield has helped and I think the players enjoyed coming here."

Even though the tournament is right after the PGA Championship and right before the FedEx Cup playoffs, this year's field will have a lot of quality players.

"It's a different style of golf course," Pettersson said about the only Donald Ross course on the PGA Tour's regular-season schedule.

Around the green

Jerry Haas, the golf coach at Wake Forest, won the Western North Carolina Open at Mimosa Hills in Morganton last week. Haas rallied from four shots back in the final six holes to win. Haas had a strong opening round with a 5-under 67 as he missed just two greens in regulation….

One of Haas' best players, rising senior Brendan Gielow, also had a victory last week. He shot 70-67-67 and then won in a playoff at the Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, N.Y. Gielow chipped in on the third playoff hole to beat Andrew Yun and Cody Gribble. Gielow had three other top-15 showings in the Sunnehanna Amateur, the Northeast Amateur and the Southern Amateur….

Drew Weaver of Virginia Tech, who graduated in May, was named to the All-ACC Academic Team. Weaver, who is from High Point, was one of several players who made the team. Also making it were rising senior Gielow and rising sophomore Lee Bedford of Wake Forest, along with Adam Long and Clark Klaasen of Duke. Chase McFarland and Henry Zaytoun of North Carolina were also on the team.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com
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