The PGA Tour’s event in Las Vegas this week is looking to make a big splash with the addition of six swimming pools around the 16th, 17th and 18th greens.
The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which is now the second stop on the PGA Tour’s new wrap-around schedule, began tossing around the idea of swimming pools at the golf course last spring. They had seen pools in the outfield at Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins games, as well as the end zone at Jacksonville Jaguars contests.
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Zappos.com is sponsoring two of the six pools and a miniature golf layout.
Photo by: SALEM SPORTS INC.
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The PGA Tour said this is the first tournament to make pools available to the ticket-buying public.
Two of the pools will be available to anyone with a grounds ticket. Other pools will be part of larger hospitality buys, in the $10,000 range and up, that come with 10 to 15 tickets per day and include access to shaded cabanas with food and beverage.
Zappos.com, the Las Vegas-based online retailer, is sponsoring the two pools that are accessible without an upgraded ticket.
A miniature golf course is being built between the two pools in an area called the Zappos.com Fan Experience.
Tournament officials said Zappos.com initiated the idea of pools in the fan zone.
The other four pools will be in areas adjacent to the M Life Pavilion, a 10,000-square-foot covered club/bar space with 36 televisions. MGM, a tournament partner since 2010, and the event share the hospitality inventory.
The M Life Pavilion originally was called Hyde on the Hill, named after the Hyde nightclub in the Bellagio. But MGM Resorts decided to brand it after the MGM rewards program instead. Red Bull sponsors a stage inside the pavilion.
The above-ground pools will be temperature controlled at 83 degrees, regardless of the outside weather. Security and lifeguards will monitor the pools and the tournament will provide towels.
Tournament director Adam Sperling said high temperatures this time of year can range from 80 degrees to 90 degrees. All six of the pools have a view of the golf course.
“Vegas is known as the place that has something for everyone, which is why it’s such a popular destination,” Sperling said. “Our event is trying to mimic that. We don’t want to have just a traditional golf tournament.”
