By, Bob Sherwin
A rare glimpse behind-the-scenes at the people and organizations behind the Boeing Classic, Washington’s only PGA Tour event
Every year around this time, Chuck Nelson, a former investment firm officer, crunches numbers.
As the executive director of the Boeing Classic golf tournament, a fixture on the PGA Champions Tour (age 50-plus, formerly known as the “Senior Tour”) since 2005, he narrows his focus on a precise tally of the numbers needed, from hotel rooms to hot dogs to Honey Buckets.
“It’s like planning for 60,000 people that are going to be up for a week,” says Nelson, the former University of Washington and NFL place-kicker, and UW radio analyst.
Nelson was an executive at Rigel Capital Management for 14 years, but quit in 2004 to become the full-time director of the $1.7 million Boeing Classic, Washington’s only annual PGA Tour event. This year’s tournament will be played Aug. 18-24 at the spectacular Jack Nicklaus-designed TPC Snoqualmie Ridge course.
“The list of things needed to be done is broad and the level of detail for each one is significant,” Nelson says.
There are 30,000 programs to be printed, 100 courtesy cars to be arranged, 60 shuttle buses, 700 cases of bottled water, nearly 1,000 volunteers, 125 Honey Buckets and 50,000 square feet of tents and sky boxes.
Last year, the event drew 60,000 spectators, including a single-day attendance record of 27,000 to watch Sunday’s final round and the largest playoff in PGA Tour history, featuring seven players. Denis Watson survived to win the tournament on the second playoff hole.
Miller Bradley, head of business operations for the PGA Tour, says the three-year-old Boeing Classic already “is in the top-10 and maybe the top-five on the Champions Tour.”
It’s a week jammed with activities. Monday is the Rumble at the Ridge, sponsored by the Northwest Ford Stores and arranged by the Seattle Seahawks. Former ‘Hawks and NFL players gather for a charity round. There’s a clinic Tuesday, followed by two pro-am days, all leading up to the weekend’s three-day, 54-hole, 78-player championship.
For Nelson, the number that’s most significant for him is $2.4 million. That’s how much money the tournament has raised in three years for the Heart Institute at Virginia Mason.
It may be only one week in August, but it takes an entire year to put it on.
Pulling It Together
With all the juggling and tasks that needs to be done, most tournaments have a half dozen or so year-round full-time staffers. The Boeing Classic has two, Nelson and associate tournament director Michelle DeLancy.
Nelson said there are two sides to their responsibilities. First are all those details that he, DeLancy and the volunteers deal with. The other is the sales side, gathering sponsors and raising money for the charity.
Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke was instrumental in getting the tournament started, setting up the charity, the Tour stop, the course and hiring Nelson in August 2004.
“I had experience with inventories, budgets, sales, administration and philanthropic things,” Nelson says. “It was a great opportunity to establish a new event. We try to do it bigger and better each year, adding to our own challenges. Our checklist is never shorter. It’s always longer.”
One of his priorities is to make sure the field is as good as it can be. To accomplish this, he travels to various tournaments year-round to establish relationships with the players.
“It’s up to them. They set their own schedules,” he says. “We have conversations with the players. We make sure they know we want them here and understand the positives of being here. Word of mouth also helps.”
Nelson also has running conversations with PGA Tour officials and the sponsors to make sure they are engaged in the process.
“There is great satisfaction in starting something from scratch,” Nelson adds, “and turning it into a multi-million dollar event.”