Steve Schoenfeld, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship’s executive director, thought last year’s event at the Baltimore Country Club’s East Course ran so well he’s hoping for a repeat performance.
“It will be more of the same,” he said. “The PGA Tour’s Champions Tour wants it set up in a certain way. We work to build on that with more corporate sponsors and more ticket sales and that will help us generate more revenue for the event, the community and charities.”
The Senior Players Championship — moved to Timonium from Dearborn, Mich., two years ago — brings a field of the best golfers on the Champions Tour. The tour, for golfers who are at least 50, runs from the third week of January to the first week of December.
The Senior Players Championship also brings a higher level of prestige than most of the tour’s events since it’s one of the five majors, which are the biggest — and most lucrative — tournaments of the season. It will be broadcast nationally on the Golf Channel today and Friday, with NBC showing the event’s final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
Loren Roberts won last year’s event with a 13-under-par 276, and used the momentum of the victory to claim the Charles Schwab Cup, the tour’s overall championship, at season’s end.
“I think a golf course like this, everybody gets excited about because of the character,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t favor any one particular player.”
This year’s winner receives $390,000 of a $2.6 million purse, the largest on the tour.
But there also is plenty for the community.
The Senior Players Championship generated between $15 and $20 million in economic impact, including about $500,000 in state income and sales tax.
The tournament raised about $400,000 for local charities last year. This year’s beneficiaries are The First Tee of Baltimore, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Union Memorial Hospital and the Baltimore Community Foundation/BGE Community Assistance Fund.
“It was very positive for the community. It brought a lot of good publicity to the Baltimore area,” Michael Stott, the country club’s general manager, said. “The differences are going to be in the details. We are just polishing the pearl. We are proud of the club, the facilities and the positive things we do in the community.”
Baltimore Country Club was first organized in 1897, but didn’t formally open its Roland Park campus until 1898 — a year before it hosted the fifth U.S. Open, which was won by Scotsman Willie Smith.
The East Course at Five Farms on Mays Chapel Road — the site of this weekend’s tournament — was designed by Albert W. Tillinghast and officially opened in September 1926. Players will be challenged by Tillinghast’s trademarks of numerous sand bunkers — 97 of them — and back-to-front sloping greens that make putting difficult.
The opening of the Five Farms location makes the Baltimore Country Club one of just seven clubs nationally to have a county and city — Roland Park — location. The East Course has hosted several majors: the 1928 PGA Championship, the 1932 United States Amateur Championship, the 1965 Walker Cup Matches and the 1988 United States Women’s Open Championship.
But to make this year’s event run just as smoothly as last year, a workforce of more than 1,000 volunteers and 300 employees is required.
“Our goal as a staff is to deliver the best championship on the tour the entire year,” Stott said. “With that goal comes responsibilities. It’s thrilling. I can only think of positives for hosting this championship.”
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2007 SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Loren Roberts, -13
2. Tom Watson, -7
T3. Scott Simpson, -6
T3. Fred Funk, -6
T5. Danny Edwards, -4
T5. D.A. Weibring, -4
T7. Keith Fargus, -3
T7. Eduard Romero, -3
T7. Scott Hoch, -3
T7. Fuzz Zoeller, -3
T7. Hale Irwin, -3
T7. Mark Wiebe, -3
T13. Chip Beck, -2
T13. Bernhard Langer, -2
T13. Andy Bean, -2
T13. David Eger, -2
T17. Bruce Vaughan, -1
T17. Tom McKnight, -1
T17. Jeff Sluman, -1
T17. Dana Quigley, -1
T17. Jay Haas, -1
T17. Des Smith, -1
