Milwaukee looks out of PGA picture
MILWAUKEE — The organization that handles the annual PGA Tour stop in Milwaukee is dissolving after failing to find a sponsor, leaving the future of professional golf in the area on shaky ground.
The move virtually guarantees the Tour won’t return to Milwaukee next year. Tournament director Dan Croak said Thursday the organization has run out of money after paying its bills and other financial obligations, including a donation of more than $520,000 to charities.
“We have run out of funds and, thus, cannot continue to operate,” Croak said in a statement. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the organizers’ decision to dissolve.
The tournament, originally known as the Greater Milwaukee Open, has been in operation since 1968. Among its notable moments was Tiger Woods’ professional debut in 1996.
But the tournament’s popularity had been in decline of late, especially after it recently was moved to a date opposite the British Open and U.S. Bank announced its sponsorship of the tournament was ending.
PGA Tour chief of operations Rick George said the search for a company to sponsor the Milwaukee event continues, but acknowledges no significant progress has been made.
A pair of players with strong Wisconsin ties, Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker, have pledged their support to keeping the PGA Tour alive in the area and finding a title sponsor. But their plan has not come to fruition yet.
Oct 16, 2009 at 3:27 p.m.
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I've been a volunteer for 23 tournaments. As much as I hated to see it the steady decline in attendance, name players and overall interest in the tournament has been obvious. A big part of the problem is the scheduling. Having had either the week prior to the British Open or the week of the British Open for the past several tournaments was the kiss of death. I was hoping to make it 25 tournaments before hanging it up but I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with the 23 I got in.
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