Lunch With A VIP: Todd Rhinehart, Executive Director, The Tour Championship
The focal point of golf
Tim Darnell
August 28, 2008
sponsored by:
A
neighborhood that once ranked No. 1 in terms of crime among Atlanta's 57 precincts will
be the focal point of the PGA Tour from Sept. 24-28.
"East Lake Golf Club will be the playoff finale for the PGA Tour and the FedEx Cup," says Rhinehart, "thus creating a true season for the PGA Tour. The tournament championship has always been at the end of the year for the tour usually around the first weekend of November and it was sort of anticlimactic. The PGA tour winner and the top money winner already had been decided, and there was nothing on the line.
"Now, we've created a true playing season for 37 weeks, and then a playoff
series, where the FedEx Cup winner is crowned at that event."
Legendary developer Tom Cousins helped revive and redesign East Lake Golf Club, which, formerly the golf course of the Atlanta Athletic Club (which had since moved to Duluth) and the home course of golfing great Bobby Jones, had fallen into disrepair. The golf course was redesigned, and become one of the city's leading courses. This was part of a greater revitalization of the East Lake neighborhood around the golf course.
The 2007 Tour Championship resulted in unprecedented exposure for the PGA Tour. The event's final-round telecast (which reaches 450 million households in 200 countries and 35 languages) received a 233-percent ratings increase over the rating of the event's 2006 final round. The Golf Channel's early-round coverage delivered more than 2.5 times the households than the previous year (the second round was the network's highest-rated broadcast ever.)
Traffic on www.pgatour.com during the Tour Championship was up significantly versus 2006, with unique users increasing 167 percent to 4.4 million and page views increasing 189 percent to 52 million. And hospitality sales were up 37 percent and ticket sales up 30 percent vs. 2006.
"Most importantly, the event raised $1.3 million for charity in 2007, the highest figure in tournament history," Rhinehart says. "These funds benefit the East Lake Foundation and both national and local First Tee organizations."
About The Restaurant
Fogo de
Chão is an authentic Southern Brazilian churrascaria, or steakhouse. The lunch and dinner menu
features unlimited servings of 15 different cuts of fire-roasted meats carved tableside by gaucho
chefs, an extensive salad and vegetable buffet, and traditional side dishes. Fogo de Chão is open
for lunch ($38.50) and for dinner ($48.50). The Atlanta restaurant opened its doors in
February 2001, but a recent renovation project created an expanded bar area, a stacked stone
fireplace in the lounge, and a new wine wall in the dining room.
3101 Piedmont Road in Atlanta; 404-266-9988 www.fogodechao.com
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