Navistar LPGA officials expecting increased attendance
 Lorena Ochoa, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, sizes up a putt during the 2007 Navistar LPGA Classic at Capitol Hill in Prattville. Special to the Herald//Jonathan Hoomes |
After nearly 40,000 people made their way to Prattville’s Capitol Hill Golf Course for the 2007 edition of the Navistar LPGA Classic Golf Tournament presented by MaxxForc, an even larger crowd is expected this year. The tournament is scheduled to start Sept. 25 and end Sept. 28 and will have a Pro-Am event the Sept. 24.
“This is our second year to host, Navistar has added a new presenter to the name, MaxxForc, which is Navistar’s diesel engine manufacturer,” said Jeremy Arthur, executive vice president of the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve got the world’s top female golfers coming to compete in the River Region. We had galleries of between 40,000 to 50,000 people last year and we are expecting even more this year.”
In only it’s second year as a tournament, the field for the Navistar LPGA Classic is projected to play host to more than 100 of the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s top competitors.
Last year’s winner Maria Hjorth is expected to defend her championship along with Lorena Ochoa, currently ranked as the No. 1 player in the world, Paula Creamer currently ranked No. 5, Karrie Webb, currently ranked as No. 8, Se Ri Pak and Natalie Gulbis, ranked No. 34.
“I went back to Q (qualifying) School in 2004 to get my card,” said Hjorth during a press conference following last year’s event. “Coming back from then and having a win now is a great feeling.”
Hjorth, who won her first LPGA tournament since 1999 and left Prattville with a check for $195,000 is currently ranked No. 14 behind Angela Park and ahead of Morgan Pressel ” who are also expected to tee it up on Capitol Hill.
“We are going to be put in the international spotlight because this is being aired on the Golf Channel,” said Arthur. “There’s a week between our tournament and the Bell Micro LPGA Classic that was played in Mobile. I think that it says a lot to the success of last year’s tournament and to the River Region and to the state for our hospitality. To me this speaks volumes because these women play all over the world and Alabama has two stops. It shows that we are competitive, have some of the best hospitality and have some of the most competitive golf courses in the world.”
The Bell Micro LPGA Classic was played Sept. 11-14 at Magnolia Grove.
While the tournament will directly benefit the city of Prattville by virtue of being the host, the River Region will also stand to benefit from the affair.
“It is not just the city of Prattville that benefits from this,” said Arthur. “It is truly the river region. We’ve got all five chambers ” Prattville, Montgomery, Millbrook, Wetumpka and Tallassee ” that have put together information packets that are going to be given to the golfers when they check in. The area hotels are beginning to fill up and the restaurants will benefit from having an influx of people throughout the course of next week. The River Region will really see an impact, in terms of economics from this tournament.”
The city of Prattville is also getting a financial donation of $6,500 to help with promotion and advertising of the tournament. The Elmore County Commission voted to commit $11,000 as part of a sponsorship agreement during their August meeting.
The $11,000 figure was the same commitment that was made for the 2007 tournament.
According to Arthur, Prattville and the LPGA are in the second of a three-year deal that will more than likely be extended.
“They said during our media day event that they are looking to extend our deal,” said Arthur. “But nothing is final yet. We do, have hopes of a relationship with them long into the future.”
While Wetumpka and the Elmore County Commission have financially obligated themselves to aiding Prattville and the LPGA, the LPGA has made an obligation to giving a group of Wetumpka students an up-close and personal look at some of the golfers.
Students from Wetumpka and Prattville high schools have been selected to be the standard bearers throughout next week’s competition.
Standard bearers are the people who hold the signs that tell the names and scores of a particular pairing on each hole.
“It was hot last year,” said Brittany Wilder, a senior at Wetumpka who walked the course last year and has been chosen to do so this year. “It was a long day and I drank lots of water. But it was fun.”
Selena Maddox, volunteer coordinator for the Bruno event team and Wanda Morgan, volunteer director for the tournament visited Wetumpka High Thursday morning to give members of the Key Club, the golf team, the wrestling team and the dance team, a how-to seminar.
“We want you to come out and have a good time,” said Maddox. “If you are doing this next week and not having fun, then we have failed.”
According to both Maddox and Gilmore, local high schools are one of the first places to look when finding volunteers to help with the operation of the tournaments.
“We go to the schools and find the kids that want to help,” said Maddox. “We make a donation to the schools. It’s a win-win for both parties involved. It’s our way to reach out to the community.”
Along with serving as standard bearers for the three days of competition, some students will walk with the golfers as part of Wednesday’s Pro-Am.
“We’d like to apologize in advance for some of the language you might hear during the Pro-Am,” said Gilmore. “You might get an education out there. Golf balls will be going everywhere because these pros are playing with true amateurs and they get frustrated sometimes. Think about it, this is their job. This is what they do for a living.”
First place for this year’s Navistar LPGA Classic is more than $200,000.
“Some of the golfers out there can be anal about things,” said Maddox. “Last year during the rain we got a call saying that two of the standard bearers needed to be removed from the course because they were being two loud. We had sent them out in ponchos. The wind was blowing the ponchos and it distracted the golfer. The kids were sad about having to be removed from the course. But the players are generally very nice.”
For ticket information contact Carrie Pierce at 205-262-2832 or Shay Bishop Cleckler at 205-299-7356. A weekend pass ”Thursday-Sunday ” is $40 and one-day tickets are $10.
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