Detroit PGA TOUR Event Is Likely In 2019

Detroit PGA TOUR Event Is Likely In 2019

By all accounts, the PGA TOUR is coming to Detroit in 2019 for a Quicken Loans sponsored tournament.  To be held at the Detroit Golf Club, it would be the first PGA TOUR event within Detroit city limits. The last PGA TOUR event in Michigan was the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc. That tournament ended after 2009.

Warwick Hills will be the site of a Champions Tour event starting in 2018. The Ally Challenge will be there for at least three years.

With the addition of the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR events, Michigan will have four top tier professional golf events, including the Volvik LPGA Championship, and the Meijer LPGA Classic. Michigan also is host to two Symetra Tour events: The Island Resort Championship in Harris and the Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek.

The Detroit News article suggests that the entire operation is couched in some sort of secrecy, citing anonymous PGA TOUR sources. It wasn’t much of a secret, though. When I played Detroit’s Palmer Park course last summer, an employee told me that the Detroit Golf Club was in negotiations to buy or rent  the back nine of the Palmer Park course to create extra space for an upcoming professional event.  According to the employee, the back nine, which is across the street from the Detroit Golf Club, would be used for tour vans, tv setup, media parking and such. I wrote about it in my review of the Palmer Park Golf Course. If a minimum wage employee knows, lots of people know.

The Detroit Golf Club has been working to attract a PGA TOUR event since 2010. The club’s Wikipedia page gives some details, which include extending some holes and removing trees around tee boxes to improve sight lines.

The Detroit Golf Club dates to 1899 and features two Donald Ross courses. The clubhouse was designed by Albert Kahn, who is known as the “Architect of Detroit.” I have sadly not had the chance to play there.

A Detroit PGA TOUR event would be terrific for Michigan, and for the city. I look forward to it.