Golf tourney a boost to city

Local hotels, restaurants and shops will get an upswing in business when the Toshiba Classic rolls into town on Monday.

The seven-day PGA Tour event generates millions of dollars for the local economy and raises about $1 million each year for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

Everyone from local bartenders to florists benefit, said Jeff Purser, Toshiba Classic director.

“I know of at least 1,000 dinners being booked next week and that’s outside of Toshiba. That doesn’t include professional players, TV crews volunteers that come in, going out to dinner every single night, filling the gas tanks of their rental cars — the economic impact of a PGA Tour event is enormous.”

The tournament generates six-figure contracts for local tent and flooring companies alone, Purser said. Toshiba Classic organizers spent $5,000 on floral arrangements. They also use 120 phone lines and 175 radios during the weeklong event, he said.

The tournament will give a much-needed boost to local hotels, which have been hurting from businesses that have scaled back corporate events and incentive meetings at local resorts, said Richard Luehrs, chief executive and president of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce.

“We fill up our hotel rooms [during the Toshiba Classic] and frankly, we could use some help in that regard recently,” Luehrs said. “They don’t play golf, 24-seven, they go out to lunch, dinner and recreate in all sorts of ways.”

Last year’s Toshiba Classic drew the second-largest crowd in the 14-year history of the event — about 82,500 people.

The throngs of television crews, PGA Tour golfers, their families, and golf enthusiasts help book about 3,000 hotel rooms in the local area during the tournament, Purser said.

The event pumped about $27.7 million into the local economy last year, according to a study by the Economic Research Associates, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm.

Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.