Norton, Mass. - Sometimes, changes are good. Which is why there will be no change of venue for the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Citing overwhelming praise from players over alterations made to the golf course since 2003, Seth Waugh, the chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank, confirmed yesterday that the $5 million PGA Tour tournament would remain at TPC Boston for at least the next two years.
"We could not be more pleased with what's going on out there over the last couple of days," said Waugh. "We all knew that Boston was a golf-starved area, but I didn't realize how golf-starved until last year."
Deutsche Bank has a four-year contract through 2006 to sponsor this PGA Tour tournament, but it had only committed to TPC Boston for 2003 and 2004, cautious because officials wanted to see how players embraced the course, the area, and the event as a whole.
"We want this to be an experience," said Waugh.
For the most part, the inaugural season went well. Championship director Jay Monahan said all his corporate packages were sold out, so were 25,000 daily tickets, and the field had Tiger Woods among a host of other marquee names. "The last thing that was not there was the golf course," said Waugh.
Many players felt many of the greens had too much undulation, there were bothersome collection areas in the fairways, and because of such an immature turf (TPC Boston opened in June 2002), excessive divots were a problem.
"We asked for input last year [from players] and reacted to it," said Waugh. "The fact that we delivered what we said we were going to deliver" was instrumental in the decision to keep the tournament at TPC Boston.
Waugh joked that the announcement was probably a badly kept secret because players had talked up the course over the last few days and endorsed TPC Boston as a permanent home. John Daly and Charles Howell had praised the course late Saturday and the Globe reported yesterday that the decision already had been made, that sold-out corporate packages and daily attendance figures in excess of 20,000 had thrilled the sponsor and tournament officials.
Players reacted with enthusiasm, none more so than Rhode Islander Brad Faxon, who won the New England Classic in 1992, the annual stop that was at Pleasant Valley from 1965-98. "I'm excited, because I don't know what it would be like without a tournament in New England."
The changes to TPC Boston began last fall, continued through the winter, and were finalized in the months leading up to this tournament.
"Tom Brodeur [golf course superintendent] and his staff have done a fantastic job," said Waugh, who also heaped praise on the PGA Tour for giving its blessing and financial backing to the changes and to club members for their patience.
In all, 13 of the 18 greens were worked on and most of the fairways, too. But Waugh said this is a work in progress, that when he talked with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem Saturday, "we talked a lot about what we want to do going forward; we are not done making this better."
The Deutsche Bank Championship will remain in the same Labor Day slot for 2005 and 2006. When asked about possibly extending the contract beyond that, Waugh said, "I don't want anybody to read into the fact that I'm saying two years, other than the fact that this is what our contract is.
"That doesn't mean there's not something out there after two years."
Source: The Boston Globe
