By SCOTT HAMILTON
Senior WriterGinn Sports Entertainment’s portfolio of golf tournaments continues to swell, this time at the expense of a PGA Tour event that ended before the first tee ever pierced the ground. But the move could result in iconic billionaire Donald Trump aligning with the Tour.
It officially was announced June 14 that real estate developer Bobby Ginn’s 1-year-old sports division will put on the Ginn Classic at Tesoro, a Ginn Resorts community in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (
Golfweek, June 16 issue). The $4.5 million event will be held Oct. 25-28, the next-to-last date during the Tour’s fall finish, while raising the number of Ginn-operated tournaments to four, joining two LPGA events and a Champions Tour stop.
The Ginn Classic’s slot on the schedule had been earmarked for nearly a year with the hopes of establishing a Tour event in Fresno, Calif.
But those plans faltered when work on Running Horse Golf and Country Club, the planned host venue, was halted last year because of financial problems and the inability to land a title sponsor for the event. The property’s original owners, Tom O’Meara and Scott Webb, sold the course earlier this year to developer Mick Evans, who filed bankruptcy in April. To compound matters, it was revealed last month that the club didn’t even own enough land to finish the course, of which only two holes and the driving range have been completed.
That left the door open for Trump, who has long coveted a relationship with the PGA Tour.
Al Berryman, an attorney for the Fresno-based law firm of Baker, Manock and Jensen that represents Trump, said June 14 that the real estate mogul has increased his initial offer to purchase the club from $10 million to $25 million. Berryman said the course will be renamed Trump National – Fresno, Calif., and that the billionaire’s primary goal is to bring PGA Tour golf to the region as soon as 2008.
“Absolutely,” Berryman said. “Obviously that won’t happen this year, but Mr. Trump is very interested in keeping that connection with the Tour for our area. He has a vision for completing this project. But unfortunately if we’re not able to be moving dirt here by the middle of July, we will not be in that position. Time is flying.”
Bob Combs, the Tour’s senior vice president for public relations and communications, said initial discussions have been held with Trump, but that nothing definitive was outlined and that any further discussions would have to wait until ownership of the club has been settled. He did say, however, that the Tour still wants to place an event in Fresno and that an eighth tournament could conceivably be added to the fall schedule beginning next year.
“It’s a little early for us to talk about it,” Combs said. “We believe the Running Horse facility, once it’s completed, can certainly host a PGA Tour event. But it has a lot of hurdles to clear before then.”
The Ginn Classic will be directed by John Subers, who oversaw the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach, a Champions Tour event. Ginn signed a five-year deal to hold the event and will rotate it to other Ginn-owned venues as early as next year.
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Scott Hamilton is a Golfweek senior writer. You can reach him by e-mail at shamilton@golfweek.com.
Posted: 6/14/2007
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