PGA names Craig Ranch 2008 championship site

McKinney will be on the national sports media radar in November 2008 as the Professional Golf Association’s Nationwide Tour Championship will be held at the Tournament Players Course in Craig Ranch.

The 2008 Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch will be held Nov. 6 to Nov. 9. The championship will be the Nationwide Tour’s first time to feature a $1 million purse. As the culminating event of the Nationwide Tour season, the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch will feature the top 60 money winners through the year’s final full-field event, which will be played Oct. 23, 2008, to Oct. 26, 2008.

David Craig, chairman and CEO of Craig International and developer of Craig Ranch, said at a press conference Wednesday night that the Nationwide Championship Tour is a big event for McKinney.

“With the announcement of the Nationwide Tour Championship at Craig Ranch in 2008, I definitely feel that we have a championship event with some of the world’s finest players competing at the highest level,” Craig said.

The Golf Channel, the exclusive television carrier of the Nationwide Tour, will provide coverage of all four rounds and will be broadcasting live from McKinney, Craig said. For one week, the media center in the world of sports will be McKinney, Texas, he said.

Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee said one of the Nationwide Tour’s goals over the last few years has been to elevate the Nationwide Tour Championship.

“With today’s announcement of a $1 million purse and our partnership with the Salesmanship Club and TPC Craig Ranch, there is no doubt we have accomplished that for 2008. The Salesmanship Club is one of Dallas’ most respected organizations, and has a long history of successfully promoting tour golf and generating significant sums of money for charity,” Calfee said.

PGA Tour cards will be awarded Nov. 9, at the conclusion of the championship, to the 25 leading money winners. In addition, No. 1 on the money list will be decided, with that player earning the additional perk of an invitation to the 2009 Players Championship.

The TPC at Craig Ranch opened its fairways and greens to members and guests as a private golf facility on Sept. 16, 2004. The TPC at Craig Ranch is the first tournament players club to play host to the championship. The course is a Tom Weiskopf design, is 7,438 yards from the PGA Tour tees, and plays to a par 71. The course is not expected to be closed for a long period of time in preparation of the championship tour, Calfee said. The course could possibly be closed two to three days to prepare for the championship tour, but not for a long period of time so the members of the TPC are not inconvenienced, he said.

The Salesmanship Club of Dallas, a Dallas service organization and a sponsor of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, is partnering with the PGA Tour to hold the 2008 Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch.

“This is another opportunity to help the children and families served by our charity, Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Centers. And we’re excited to have an opportunity to host the future stars of the PGA Tour,” said Randy Engstrom, president of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas

Craig thanked Mayor Bill Whitfield, city council members Brian Loughmiller, Bill Cox and Thad Helsley, who attended the conference, the McKinney Community Development Corp., McKinney Economic Development Corp., members of the TPC, the PGA, and the Salesmanship Club of Dallas for attending the event and supporting Craig Ranch.

“What makes this event even more special is that the Salesmanship Club of Dallas will be the host organization. There may not be a better organization that has bonded together with philanthropy as its cause than this fine group of individuals,” Craig said. “Their efforts and experience in hosting events and giving back to the community are second to none and I am proud to be associated with them.”

Bill Wilshusen, chairman of the Nationwide Tour, said he is excited about bringing professional golf to Collin County.

“The course up here is beautiful and challenging. We’ve been trying to make inroads into the McKinney, Plano and Frisco area,” Wilshusen said.

The reason why Nationwide chose to have the championship tour in McKinney at Craig Ranch is because of the good things the company has heard about David Craig, Wilshusen said.

Cox said he thinks having the championship in McKinney is a great event for his hometown.

“I think it’s a great event, not only for McKinney but for the entire region. To have a professional golf tournament in our city will be a tremendous economic boost,” Cox said.

Loughmiller said he is excited the McKinney will get to hold the championship, which could draw as many as 20,000 people to McKinney daily as festivities will most likely be planned for the entire week of the championship to help bring fans to McKinney.

“It will have to be a weeklong event with festivities. The Byron Nelson Championship can potentially draw 50,000 people, so this tour will draw less than that, and could potentially draw 20,000 people. As far as what this does for McKinney, from the standpoint of sales tax and tourism dollars, the hotels will fill up here and in surrounding areas and we’ll get the chance to show McKinney off. I think it’s huge what this could bring in moneywise,” Loughmiller said.

Former champions of the Nationwide Tour Championship include PGA Tour winners David Duval, Stewart Cink, Steve Flesch, Bob Burns, Spike McRoy, Chris Couch and Nick Watney.

Contact staff writer Brandi Hart at hartb@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.

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