Harbor Shores Development

The Golf Club at Harbor Shores to play host to 2012, 2014 Senior PGA Championship

By TED HARTZELL - H-P Local News Editor 

BENTON HARBOR — The Golf Club at Harbor Shores will host a major professional tournament in 2012 and 2014 when the Senior PGA Championship is played on the new course.

One of Whirlpool Corp.’s brands will be the sponsor, but officials on Tuesday would not say which brand. The Benton Township-based appliance maker has been the prime mover behind the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, which is expected to be fully open by July 1.

In a brief phone interview Tuesday, Wendy Dant Chesser, the president of Cornerstone Alliance, was asked about the expected economic impact of the tournament.

“A conservative number is about a $20 million impact – direct and indirect,” Chesser said. She said she’s seen numbers as high as $30 million for the tournament’s effect, but no specific study has been done on the possible financial benefits to Southwest Michigan of the 2012 and 2014 tournaments.

The Whirlpool-backed Cornerstone Alliance, the Twin Cities-area economic development agency, sent out a press release Tuesday heralding “a special community announcement” at 4 p.m. today at Grand Upton Hall in Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center. “It is a positive news story about the economy and sports that will be very newsworthy for the region and the state,” said the release, which did not divulge the exact nature of the announcement.

The release said the announcement will come “via live feed from an undisclosed location.” But a press release from PGA of America earlier Tuesday said the PGA at 4 p.m. EST, or 2 p.m. Mountain Time, will announce from Colorado “a major new Senior PGA Championship sponsorship and PGA of America partnership with a Benton Harbor-based company.”

The announcement will come from Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo., a Denver suburb, where the 71st Senior PGA Championship will be played Thursday through Sunday. NBC will broadcast the third and fourth rounds of the tournament, which starts with a field of 156.

The Colorado Golf Club is similar to Harbor Shores as a host course in that it is a new course designed by a top golfer. Ben Crenshaw and his design partner Bill Coore designed the course, which is hosting this year’s Senior PGA Championship just three years after opening in 2007.

The total purse for last year’s tournament was $2 million. This year’s purse had not been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.

Cornerstone Alliance spokeswoman Jamie Nilson-Balkin confirmed in a phone interview Tuesday the two press releases concerned a Whirlpool brand’s sponsorship of the tournament at the Harbor Shores golf course.

She said George Zimmermann of the Pure Michigan initiative will help make today’s announcement. Representatives from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and other state officials have been invited.

She and Chesser declined on Tuesday to go into more details, waiting instead for today’s announcement.

Ryan Walters, boys and girls golf coach at St. Joseph High School, has seen the course a few times and looks forward to a major championship there. “I think it’s really exciting for the area to have a major tournament like that coming,” Walters said. “The course so far looks great. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of it looks like. It’s definitely a challenging course. It will test their putting ability.”

The PGA’s website calls the Senior PGA Championship “the most historic and prestigious event in senior golf.” It started in 1937 and is the oldest major championship in senior golf.

The 2011 Senior PGA Championship will be played at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, a golf course also designed by Nicklaus.

Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, outside of Grand Rapids, formerly hosted a Champions Tour event, the Foremost Insurance Champi onship. There is no major tour event in Michigan this year.

H-P Sports Writer Darren Phillips contributed to this report.