Simpson’s lobbying is helping Wells Fargo Championship in its unusual position

Webb Simpson, who tied for 11th in the RBC Heritage on Sunday, has adopted a second job of sorts for about the past year on the PGA Tour.

The 2012 U.S. Open champion is a resident and member at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., which is home to the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship.

But he also became a member at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C., about 10 years ago and takes an annual buddy trip to the area and course.

Eagle Point is filling in as host of the Wells Fargo in two weeks because Quail Hollow is hosting the PGA Championship in August, so Simpson has been a recruiter on tour for the tournament and club.

Players often set their schedules around courses they like and feel give them the best chance to win, but Eagle Point is in the unusual position of being a one-and-done site that few on tour know anything about.

So Simpson essentially has the duty of being the club’s envoy on tour. He said he has answered questions from dozens of players about the course, and it will be interesting to see what the final field looks like. The Wells Fargo annually attracts one of the strongest fields of the year among regular events on the PGA Tour.

“It is a unique situation, but the top players know who to talk to, and I think the top players who have played the Wells Fargo Championship know what kind of event they put on,” Simpson said. “I don’t think guys are hesitant because it’s a new golf course. Sure, we’re going to have some guys that maybe don’t come just because it’s a new golf course, but at the same time I hope, and I know [organizers] hope the same consistent field will be here competing.”

The commitment last week of world No. 1 Dustin Johnson was a significant development for the tournament, and possibly somewhat unexpected considering Johnson hasn’t played the Wells Fargo since 2011. He missed a couple years because of injury, but his five-year absence was telling considering he knew the course was hosting a major championship this year.

Thus far, six players ranked in the top 20 in the world have already committed including No. 10 Adam Scott, No. 12 Alex Noren, No. 13 Jon Rahm, No. 15 Patrick Reed and No. 19 Phil Mickelson.

Carl Pettersson, a Sweden native who played at N.C. State and still resides in Raleigh, is also an Eagle Point member who holds the course record of 62 and has been assisting Simpson on the tour recruiting trail.

Others who have committed include Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner, Louis Oosthuizen, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell, William McGirt, Francesco Molinari, Emiliano Grillo, Kevin Chappell, Bill Haas, Adam Hadwin, Andrew “Beef” Johnston and defending champion James Hahn. Players have until 5 p.m. on April 28 to enter.

The tournament has a few things that work in its favor.

It has a strong purse of $7.5 million, and its place on the schedule immediately before The Players Championship and its purse of more than $10 million might attract some international players and others looking for a warm up.

Its reputation as one of the best-run tournaments on tour, with impeccable treatment and perks for players and their families and caddies, may have forged loyalty from some players.

Simpson learned the game in Wilmington at the Country Club of Landfall and joined nearby Porter’s Neck Plantation and Country Club several years ago.

“It’s like a perfect world for me because I’ve got so much history here and I love the Wells Fargo Championship as it is, so for it to be in the area I grew up is a dream come true, honestly,” Simpson said. “I’m thrilled to see a PGA Tour tournament here. I think Wilmington is a great golf town. Wilmington not having had a PGA Tour event, I think there is excitement and buzz here that’s quite unusual. Wilmington has so much to offer. I think it’s going to be a home run.”

Tournament organizers and Wells Fargo executives looked at several places including San Francisco, Texas and Atlanta for a one-year relocation but they wanted to keep the tournament in North Carolina.

Eagle Point president Bobby Long worked to get the event. Long is also chairman of the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation that operates the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. The tournament filled its need for volunteers months ago.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the support and excitement,” said tournament director Kym Hougham, who essentially relocated to Wilmington in early January. “It has forced us to think outside the box. We can’t just pick up Quail Hollow and move it here. This is a totally different property and totally different city with a totally different personality.”

Original course architect Tom Fazio assisted with the addition of approximately 500 yards to the course, creating a 7,409-yard championship layout, and Marsh Benson, the retired former senior director of golf course and grounds at Augusta National Golf Club, was brought in as a consultant.

The tournament will be broadcast to 225 countries, and Long and business leaders in Wilmington hope to use the tournament, its exposure and the corporate schmoozing that occurs at it to attract businesses to the area.

“From an economic development perspective, you know the eyeballs from around the world will be on and it will factor into their decisions to locate businesses here, which raises the tide for all your citizens,” Long said. “Let this tournament and the eyeballs from around the world give you an extra layer of confidence that you can recruit companies you thought were previously unattainable.”

“We just want to do a really, really top-notch job and we’ll take it from there.”

The tournament is expected to have an economic impact on the Wilmington area of between $40 and $60 million, according to tournament organizers.

The non-profit Champions For Education operates the golf tournament, which has generated more than $19 million for charities in the tournament’s first 14 years.

The First Tee of Greater Wilmington, which is building a new home facility, will be the primary beneficiary and other charities in the greater Wilmington area will benefit.

The course is somewhat isolated, with only two-lane roads leading into it, and the traffic plan required approval from the state department of transportation and county and city officials. The primary parking lot is the Hampstead Spot Festival property at 14121 US 17, and shuttles will also transport spectators from a downtown area on Harnett Street between North 3rd and North Front streets.

“Traffic and parking have been the big questions since we got here. When we first got in we found this really beautiful field and now there’s a Lowe’s on it,” Hougham said. “We don’t want Kiawah to happen here. We want to make sure everybody gets in and out of here quickly and there isn’t a traffic jam.”

More tournament information is available at www.WellsFargoChampionship.com.

Quail sneak peak

Meanwhile, Quail Hollow is preparing to host the PGA Championship.

The course closed following the 2016 Wells Fargo for renovations that included the regrassing of all greens, building of four new greens, extension of the first hole by pushing into what was the par-3 second hole, conversion of the par-5 fifth hole into a par-3 and a par-4, and lengthening of the par-4 11th hole.

“The changes are great, the greens are in fantastic shape and it’s a true major championship-style golf course,” Simpson said.

Two-time Wells Fargo champion Rory McIlroy has also toured and played the course. “The changes are good,” McIlroy said. “It definitely makes the start of the golf course more challenging. The first hole, now instead of it being 3-wood and a wedge, it’s a driver and a good mid-iron. I think you won’t really see guys getting off to the hot starts that they used to.”

Childs to lead WSCGA

Clarissa Childs of Columbia, who was sponsored by Burroughs & Chapin Co. as well as Hootie & the Blowfish while playing on the LPGA Tour and Symetra Futures Tour in the early and mid-2000s, has been named the new executive director of the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association.

Childs had the Grande Dunes logo on her shirt and golf bag while on the LPGA Tour. She has been the head women’s golf coach at Newberry College since 2012, leading the Wolves to the 2012 and 2013 South Atlantic Conference championship while being named the SAC Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2015.

Childs was a four-time All-SEC player at South Carolina.

She hopes to increase the organization’s exposure, expand the WSCGA membership base, and promote and expand tournaments, programs and its Vicki Hillen junior golf foundation, which is named in honor of the 11-time WSCGA champion from Murrells Inlet who died in 2005 at the age of 48 after a battle with cancer.

With Childs’ hire, the WSCGA office will be relocating to Columbia. Her reign begins May 15.

BMW raising funds

The list of charities that will benefit from the Web.com Tour’s 2017 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation offers strong commitments to education, children and the senior community.

The tournament will be held in the Greenville area from May 18-21 at Thornblade Club, The Preserve at Verdae and Furman University Golf Club.

Five of 16 benefiting organizations are new to the tournament: The Blade Junior Golf Classic, Blue Ridge Council Boy Scouts of America, Center for Developmental Services, The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, and The Furman Advantage.

Returning charities include: BMW Car Club of America, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Habitat for Humanity of Greenville, Harvest Hope Food Bank, Mobile Meals of Spartanburg, NCCAA, Project Hope Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, Shriners Hospitals for Children – Greenville, SYNNEX Share the Magic, and Upstate Warrior Solution.

Ticket sales and volunteer hours will again be a major source of fundraising for the participating charities. Volunteers can designate which organization will receive a donation for hours worked, and each charity will receive 100 percent of the proceeds generated by their respective ticket sales.

The Charity Cup is returning for the second year as a third source to generate donations. Each celebrity player will be paired with a charity and collect online pledges for that charity and the celebrity’s personal charity. Pledges are based on the total number of holes played.

Tournament partner charities received $676,252 in 2016, with total donations since the tournament’s inception in 2001 exceeding $12 million. Online volunteer registration opened Feb. 1 at bmwcharitygolf.com. For sponsorship and playing opportunities contact Linda Johnson at LJohnson@sccharities.org or 864-517-2383.

The BMW tournament and Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C., that follows on the schedule will be among four Web.com Tour tournaments selected by the PGA Tour to test the use of distance measuring devices during competition. The PGA Tour will seek further evaluation and feedback from the tour Player Advisory Council.

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Simpson’s lobbying is helping Wells Fargo Championship in its unusual position."