Winning Golf With Fewer Steps
With its sparkling white sand traps and emerald fairways, the golf course at the sprawling St. Regis resort in Dana Point is postcard material.
But it took more than looks for the new five-star resort to whisk the Hyundai Team Matches golf tournament away from the prestigious Pelican Hill Golf Course, up the coast in Newport Beach.
The short walk helped.
Spectators who had attended the tournament the past two years at the Newport Coast course complained of the exhausting hike involved in following golfers. In contrast to the sprawling Pelican Hill course, the shorter Monarch Beach Golf Links at the Dana Point resort seemed a fatigue-proof layout for spectators.
By wooing the tournament, which features golf icons including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Fred Couples, the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa also has attracted an event it hopes will win it needed exposure.
The timing of Monarch Beach’s inaugural pro tournament could be critical for the $240-million, 400-room St. Regis, which opened in late July only to be met by a darkening economy, a tourism slump and fallout from the terrorist attacks.
“It’s been pretty bad for all resorts and hotels, but it’s been a little more difficult for us, since we just opened our doors five weeks before Sept. 11,” said Seamus McManus, St. Regis’ general manager. “We’re hoping this event will stimulate a lot of interest nationally and locally.”
The Dec. 8-9 tournament will be carried live on ABC. Last year’s event drew roughly 2.5 million viewers daily.
“We’re hoping for lots of sunshine and 75 degrees,” McManus said. “And a little snow and rain in the rest of the country will make it extra exciting.”
How exciting the golf will be for the 24 players from the PGA, LPGA and Senior tours might depend on the recent alterations to the 18-year-old course, which overlooks the ocean.
Until three months ago, Monarch Beach was considered a short course with a relatively simple layout. But $2 million in improvements has brought change: The course is nearly 300 yards longer, rock features have been added to the three lakes, and the sand traps have been filled with brilliant, milk-white crushed marble.
One thing Monarch Beach didn’t have to touch was its layout, which includes parallel fairways and spectator-friendly mounds and slopes.
“There are three ‘fingers’ on the course, which means you’re never more than two holes from the clubhouse,” said Gary Pollard, tournament director of Hyundai matches. “Pelican had a non-returning nine, and due to all the valleys, it was a long, treacherous walk. People really had to made a long commitment if they wanted to follow anybody.”
Most golf fans decided it wasn’t worth their time or money. Last year’s three-day tournament drew just over 14,000 fans at Pelican Hill, one of the most prestigious courses in Southern California. Pollard expects this year’s gate to increase by about 50%.
“The demographic is far more residential here than it was around Newport,” Pollard said. “People recognize it’s an easier walking course, and the field has Arnold Palmer this year.”