Golf event big boon for community

By Denis House and Tim Branstetter
Staff Writers

August 14, 2008 11:35 am

— The day after the Duramed Futures Tour made a stop in London for the Falls Auto Group Classic presented by Little Caesars, the Director of Golf at Crooked Creek Bill Sergent was having the Christmas blues.
“You know the way you feel the day after Christmas when it’s over,” Sergent said. “Everything went so well and I hate to see the girls leave.”
The tournament turned out to be a huge success with the top three players battling for the win on the final hole.
“We think it was a huge success,” Sergent said. “They were all three tied at eight under coming to the last hole. We couldn’t ask for any better beginning to our tournament than having the three best players on the tour fighting it out at the end.”
Outside of the exciting finish the tournament was also good for the community and provided local golf fans with an up close and personal experience with future members of the LPGA.
“We housed 70 girls, but that meant 74 had to find some place to stay,” Sergent said. “With family members you are looking at 148 rooms that could have been used. It was great for the whole area. We think we had over six thousand spectators and that’s pretty good for your first event. People are not going to know these girls when they see them play here, but when they turn on the television next year, Mindy Kim or Vicki Hurst may be leading the U.S. Women’s Open. You never know.”
Ken Harvey agrees.
“I don’t know what the numbers are,” the executive director of the London-Laurel County Tourist Commission said. “But I’m sure the dollar amount will be significant. Right now it’s too early to tell, but I know that a few motels had reserved a lot of rooms, and I’m sure the players and their families went out to eat a lot. From an economic standpoint, that’s significant. This is the type of event you want your community to host.”
“It had to be big for the economy,” said Franklin Stivers, who housed three of the girls. “I can’t see how it couldn’t be.”
Many of the golfers arrived a week prior to the event, which meant even more dollars for the economy of Laurel County.
“My daughter housed one of the girls, and I got a lot of feedback from her,” Harvey said. “She said it was a good tournament, and the course was great. I’m proud of all the volunteers.”
Sergent echoed those sentiments.
“We couldn’t have done it without all the hard work of the volunteers,” Sergent said. “They really helped make this a success.”

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