The cheering is over at Fallen Oak. Coast golf fans are watching this week to see which PGA golfers will plunk their ball into the water at No. 17 at the TPC. And Champions Tour golfers are preparing for their next event — the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham in a week.
And it is a time of assessment and review for officials of the inaugural Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, which was won by David Eger on Sunday.
“We exceeded expectations,’’ MGRC Tournament Director Steve Neiman said. “I’m still amazed at the spirit of the people here. People are still telling me how much fun they had. We created an event where they wanted to be here.’’
The original goal was to get 60,000 to 65,000 people out to the tournament — two days for the pro-am and three for the championship event. Weather played a role in preventing that goal from being reached, according to Neiman. Sunday’s split rounds were played under the threat of rain, which hit a half hour after Eger finished on No. 18.
“We had approximately 50,000 for the week,’’ Neiman said. “Our two best weather days were Wednesday and Thursday during the pro-ams. The weather was OK Friday and Saturday but were lucky to get the round in on Sunday. Yet people still came out on Sunday.’’
There are several things that can be improved upon, according to Neiman.
“We may have a little different sales strategy next year,’’ he said. “We need to get more inventory out there. We sold out of everything we had.
“We’re thinking about adding a third pro-am, at a different locale.
“We may double-deck our sky boxes. We would like to provide more area for our corporate sponsors on No. 18 and No. 9.
“With our sponsors, we will be able to talk to the people before their budgets are due. We had our press conference on Nov. 2 (2009) and then had to go out and raise the money locally.’’
Tournament chairman Anthony Topazi said on Sunday that he thought the tournament would increase its number of sponsors after the success in 2010.
Neiman also said that the 17 1/2 hours of coverage got out the message nationally that South Mississippi has bounced back after Katrina. Additionally, surveys at the tournament indicated that golf fans came not only from Mississippi, but from the Panhandle of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana.
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