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PGA Tour event set at Grayhawk
Fry's Electronics Open to limit ticket sales
Peter Corbett
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 24, 2006 12:00 AM
SCOTTSDALE - A PGA Tour golf tournament scheduled at Scottsdale's Grayhawk Golf Club in October 2007 will limit attendance to a fraction of the FBR Open's crowds.

The Fry's Electronics Open on Grayhawk's Raptor Course will likely cap ticket sales at about 10,000 to 15,000 per day, said Del Cochran, Grayhawk Golf Club captain. The FBR averaged 111,315 fans each tournament day.

But he and the host Thunderbirds civic group say they are excited about staging a second PGA event next year.

"I'm overjoyed," Cochran said. "We love the October timeline that sets up the market for the season, and the weather is perfect."

The PGA Tour and the Thunderbirds announced Wednesday that the Fry's Electronics Open is one of seven tournaments in a new fall series.

The tournament, with a $5 million purse and full field of 132 players, will be Oct. 15-21 at Grayhawk, northeast of Hayden Road and Thompson Peak Parkway.

It is not expected to attract golf's top tour players because it falls a month after the Tour Championship, when many players take time off.

But Greg Hoyt, tournament chairman, said he called some of the local players to invite them to compete.

"With such a large contingent of tour professionals already living here in the Valley, we should have a strong field vying for the championship," said Hoyt, who was the 2004 FBR Open chairman.

The FBR Open, which will be played at the TPC Scottsdale Jan. 29-Feb. 4, attracted 536,777 for this year's event.