Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, MI, was
selected as the site for the 2003 Ryder Cup and the 2008 PGA
Championship, according to John Niyo of the DETROIT NEWS.
Oakland Hills beat out the Colonial Country Club in Ft.
Worth and Medinah Country Club in Chicago, which received
the 2011 Ryder Cup (DETROIT NEWS, 10/20). PGA CEO Jim
Awtrey "estimates the Ryder Cup will generate" $50-70M for
the host city, compared to $40-60M generated by a PGA
Championship (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/20). Oakland Hills
execs expect crowds of 35,000 throughout the weeklong Ryder
Cup tournament. Senior Economist at Comerica Inc. David
Littmann said that the '96 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills
"brought in about" $15M to Metro Detroit, $6M on ticket
sales alone. Littmann: "We estimated that there was more
than $1 million spent on hotels" (DETROIT NEWS, 10/20).
OTHER SITES: The Medinah Country Club was awarded the
2006 PGA Championship, while the 2007 Cup was awarded to
Valhalla Golf Club in KY (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/20).
RYDER BUCKS: The PGA of America announced that it will
allocate $13M from each Ryder Cup "to a new outreach
program," the PGA Tour and an endowment for PGA professional
education (Jayne Custred, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 10/20).
