Vincent Publishing - Index

Vincent Publishing - 2008 Wachovia Championship - Index

QUAIL HOLLOW HISTORY
92
The man behind the selection of Palmer and Fazio to
redo Quail Hollow was Johnny Harris, Jimmy’s son,
longtime club president. He said, “You know, some
people are born with natural beauty and some aren’t.
Same with golf courses. Charlotte Country Club had
natural beauty. We had to do what you might call cosmetic
surgery, but we don’t apologize for making our
course better. If we see something we can improve on
our course, we’ll do it.”
Harris said Fazio’s renovation was not done with the
idea of landing a PGA TOUR event. “It was done with
the idea of bringing people who are the very best at the
game to Charlotte,” he said. “It was not to have a TOUR
event but maybe a PGA Championship or the Ryder
Cup matches, not an every-year event. We did design
the course, though, with areas for things like concessions
and grandstands, in case they were needed.”
A little politicking went into landing the Wachovia
Championship. For a few years, Quail Hollow hosted
a private tournament for members and several PGA
TOUR players in an effort to get the players to talk to
their fellow pros about the course, in the hope good
reviews might attract a big event like the PGA
Championship. It worked, though not exactly as it
had been planned. Charlotte became a target city for
the Tour.
When negotiations were underway to bring the
Wachovia Championship here, Harris told PGA
TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem that the club
would agree only if a local company was sponsor.
Ken Thompson, president and CEO of Wachovia,
said his company would sponsor a tournament here
only if it was played at Quail Hollow, where, incidentally,
he is a member.
That led to what has been a happy marriage between
the club and the banking giant. The tournament has
been a sellout success from the start, featuring some
of the strongest fields to play a TOUR event. David
Toms won the first one in 2003. Joey Sindelar won
the next year, then Vijay Singh, followed by Jim
Furyk and then Tiger Woods.
It wasn’t the first PGA TOUR event to be played here.
Back in the 1940’s, when there were still plenty of
quail at Quail Hollow, the Charlotte Open was played
It wasn’t the first PGA TOUR event to be played here. Back in the 1940’s, when there were still plenty
of quail at Quail Hollow, the Charlotte Open was played at Myers Park Country Club. One of the
winners was Byron Nelson, who beat Sam Snead in a 36-hole playoff to keep alive his 11-tournament
winning streak.
2008 Wachovia Championship Official Event Program