Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.
If Ian Knight loves a challenge, he certainly took the right job.
Knight, 42, left his position with the PGA Tour's Golf Course Properties Division in May to take over as the tournament director of Las Vegas' struggling PGA Tour stop, now known as the Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children.
The PGA Tour announced in April that the Shriners Hospitals for Children would replace the Las Vegas Founders Club as the charitable host organization of the local PGA Tour event.
In less than 90 days, Knight has assembled an impressive tournament committee that includes Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President Rossi Ralenkotter, R&R Partners Chief Executive Billy Vassiliad is, renowned golf instructor Butch Harmon and Las Vegas 51s President Don Logan.
In the next 60 days, Knight and new tournament Chairman Gary Davis will continue to lay the groundwork for what they hope will be a revitalization of the tournament, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary Oct. 11-14 at the TPC Summerlin and the TPC the Canyons.
With the Frys.com Open only two months away, Knight sat down with the Sun to field questions about his group's plans to rekindle interest in the tournament.
It's going very well. We had a transition in late May, early June, where we got the new team assembled. We've done a tremendous amount of work in the first 90 days, but there's a tremendous amount of work still to do.
What is the PGA Tour's opinion of this event?
The tour definitely wants to be in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is an outstanding market for the tour. The goal of the PGA Tour is to have more people consuming more golf products and getting more involved in golf, so it's a great fit. The question is, how can we take it to the next level?
What are some of the challenges you face in trying to "take it to the next level?"
There are some real challenges in the event. For example, parking is a challenge. There is also a lot of competition in the market - there are a lot of other things to do. Those are probably the two biggest things we have to overcome, so that's what we're really focusing on this year.
You look at this event versus the tournament in Scottsdale, the FBR Open. They have the largest-attended golf tournament in the world. They have 500,000 people attending the event, they've got 36,000 hanging out on that 16th hole and it's real excitement. I think that's because it's more than just a golf tournament - it's an event - and that's what we're striving toward.
The previous group, the Las Vegas Founders Club, tried to do that and didn't succeed. How do you plan to achieve that?
The first thing we're doing is creating an entertainment platform (overlooking the 18th green at the TPC Summerlin), which we call 'The Hill.' It will be beautifully architectured and framed in caliche rock and it will be 15,000 square feet. The TPC at Scottsdale, the 16th is their signature hole. We think this can become exactly like that because it gives you a view of the 16th hole, the 17th hole and the 18th hole.
It'll be a really fun, comfortable place to be. It'll be just short of a nightclub, really. That's the kind of feel we want. We want it to be a younger, hipper place with lounges and TV screens so people will be able to enjoy that, too. You'll pay an additional fee to get into that, but it will be open to the general public so anyone will be allowed to come in.
In your mind, can this event eventually grow to the level of the Scottsdale tournament?
Absolutely, yes. We're realistic and we know that it's a challenge. There are a lot of issues that we have to work through, but we're bringing a lot of new energy and a lot of new ideas. And this board is also helping open up a lot of new doors in Las Vegas. We think if we can work hard, we can start to build this event to be like an FBR Open.
Another gripe from local golf fans concerns the lack of parking near the two courses. What are you doing to improve parking and the shuttle service to the courses?
On the parking front, we actually think we have a great plan. We'll have a private parking area for VIPs, for caddies, for volunteers and we'll also have a dedicated site for the general public, which we're actually spending a lot of time and money on.
We're also going to really apply ourselves to manage the bus process so that we get as fast a bus process as possible. We recognize this is a key item for the general public and it needs to work very smoothly and you'll see we'll be coming with a really clearly defined plan.
How will the new FedEx Cup playoff format affect the quality of the field for this year's tournament?
We don't know what the impact of the FedEx Cup will be on our strength of field. In some cases you could say the top players will be burned out and they may not continue on for the rest of the year. On the flip side, you'll have a lot of players who are maybe locked out of the last four weeks (of the FedEx Cup) and haven't had a chance to play in a few weeks and want to get right back in.
archive
