When the PGA Tour approved plans to hold the '13 and '14 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, it "did not specify a location," and so it is "conceivable that next year's tournament will move to the Omni Tucson National, a much shorter, more traditional and more convenient" location, according to Greg Hansen of the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. Hansen noted, however, that a move away from Dove Mountain will see "significant pushback." Accenture, which is paying about $7M per year to be the title sponsor, "wants to stay at the Ritz-Carlton." Hansen wrote the hotel is "sitting in advertising paradise," as the hotel is "not paying a cent for more than" 30 hours of live NBC and Golf Channel programming. The Conquistadores, which organizes the event, believes that it will "take about $600,000 to make Omni Tucson National tour-worthy again ... and they think it's possible that attendance over five days will increase significantly and fan convenience will improve." After four years at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, the players "seem to have adjusted and accepted the unique desert layout and its quirks." But parking at the venue "is challenging." On Wednesday, when attendance "rose an estimated" 32% over last year's first day of play, but a "monumental traffic jam clogged" local streets for around two hours. Hansen noted there is "no way to tell how much damage Wednesday's parking scramble did in a public-relations sense." In the long term, Tucson's days on the WGC/PGA Tour calendar "seem limited," as the market's demographic is "more suited to play host to a Champions Tour event" (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 2/25).
SUCCESSFUL WEEK: In Tucson, Hansen writes, "This was the best Match Play week of them all, with the most buzz, the biggest crowds, wall-to-wall sunshine and the healthiest outlook for the future." The "huge merchandise tent was almost sold out of (expensive) golf goods." The PGA Tour "did the right thing by taking Tucson off a year-to-year death watch" and extending through '14. The Conquistadores "sold more than" $3M in tickets in a down economy and Accenture "continued to pour" $7M and its corporate support. Tournament Dir Gerald Goodman, with "approval from the Tour and its players association, made Sunday work on a grand scale for the first time, allowing fans in the fairways and cutting the championship match from 36 to 18 holes" (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 2/27).
