Rick Rounsaville has a to-do list he's been waiting to compose for several years.
"An addition to the clubhouse," said Rounsaville, a Phillipsburg, N.J., native who is general manager and director of golf at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre De Grace, Md. "And building a huge putting green and two short-game areas. And making all the plans to run an event."
And, oh yeah, overseeing improvements to the road leading to Bulle Rock's back entrance.
The list likely will grow in the next few days, just as it grew while Rounsaville spoke via phone. The to-do list became officially necessary Monday when it was announced that Bulle Rock is to become the new host of the McDonald's LPGA Championship, which for the past 18 years was played at the Du Pont Country Club in Wilmington, Del.
The event reportedly drew more than 100,000 fans per year to Wilmington and, other than NASCAR events at Dover, was Delaware's only professional major league-level sports event. The tournament raised $1.6 million in charity funds this past June, when a day of competition was lost to rain. The event had raised more than $2 million per year from 1997-2003.
But with DuPont Country Club undergoing a 10-month renovation project, LPGA and event officials began looking elsewhere.
"We believe that we can raise more money down there," tournament co-founder Frank Quinn told the Wilmington News-Journal. "The DuPont Country Club has been an excellent home for us. We raised a lot of money in Delaware. It's like when you sell your house and move to a bigger house. You're not leaving the because you didn't like the neighborhood; you just wanted a bigger house."
Rounsaville, who has been the boss at Bulle Rock since it opened in 1997, said the deal calls for Bulle Rock to host the McDonald's Championship for at least the next five years.
"From Day 1, the vision of our former owner, Mr. [Ed] Abel, was to have a world-class golf course that could host a championship event," said Rounsaville, who served as a teaching pro at Four O's (now Jack's Golf-O-Rama) in Bath in the early 1990s. "This recognizes us as being of that caliber, and it's going to put us on the world-wide map.
"We definitely think the course is capable. It was built to hold a major tournament. It'll have good gallery views."
Bulle Rock, which was designed by Pete Dye and plays up to 7,375 yards from the back/championship tees, was one of 16 North American course to receive a five-star rating from Golf Digest readers in the magazine's May 2004 issue.
Bulle Rock, which charges players $145 per round, has hosted events such as the Maryland State men's and women's opens, an invitational for pros from the Middle Atlantic region and several LPGA Tour players for rounds the day after the several Betsy King Classics.
Now, coming up next June, one of the LPGA Tour's four majors.
Reminded of a conversation two years ago in which he said he hoped Bulle Rock could some day host a pro tour event, Rounsaville laughed.
"Yeah, it's kind of big," he said. "It'll be a little different around here for a week or so [next July]. But it isn't where you're disrupting the membership. We'll probably have to close the weekend before, and then stay closed a day or two after to clean up."
The benefits -- tangible and intangible -- make it worthwhile, Rounsaville said.
"Hopefully, people who haven't had a chance to see it or play it yet, will come and see it during the event," Rounsaville said.
With Bulle Rock 35 miles south of the McDonald's Championship's former home in Wilmington, Rounsaville said he hopes the event can retain its Philadelphia-area following and volunteers and pick up new support in Baltimore.
"It's only about a half-hour from Wilmington, and it's two hours from Allentown, if you don't hit any traffic," said Rounsaville, who said he returns to the Lehigh Valley regularly to visit family.
The visits home may not be as frequent in the coming months, as Rounsaville has that lengthy to-do list.
Already, he has had one unforeseen obstacle.
"We had a storm 10 minutes before the press conference was to start, and it knocked out the electricity," Rounsaville said.
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
