Royal Canberra Golf Club's scramble to get its fairways up to scratch has paid off as ALPG chief executive Karen Lunn sets her sights on securing a long-term deal to host the Canberra Classic.
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The state of Royal Canberra's fairways forced officials to cobble together a makeshift course for the $150,000 tournament but Lunn says the ALPG "couldn't have asked for more" from the golf club.
The vote of confidence in the course is a huge boost as Lunn hunts for more corporate support to lock in the Canberra Classic and bring an end to year-by-year negotiations to stage the tournament.
Fairways have been left looking patchy after couch grass was poisoned for removal, but the sheer amount of it combined with a searing hot summer raised alarm bells for club officials.
Concerns mounted about how the fairways would look on the tournament's online live stream but officials worked tirelessly to get enough holes up to scratch to avoid the Canberra Classic being axed.
Players have bypassed the traditional hole 1-18 route on the 27-hole course, instead using the opening four holes, the ninth, 13th, and then 16 through to 27.
"They have done a really good job, they’ve put a lot of effort and resources into it. They were really committed to the tournament going ahead. We couldn’t have asked for more from them really," Lunn said.
"It’s perfect at the moment and the girls have been really complimentary about the condition of the greens and the rest of the course, apart from the issues that have been well documented.
"There hasn’t been any complaints from the players and I think the greens are probably some of the best they’ll play on all year. They’re pretty happy.
"We’ve had quite a few people through the gate [on Friday morning] which is good, and maybe a little surprising for the first morning. Perfect weather and some good scores out there, so I really don’t think we could have asked for anything better."
Lunn will sit down with officials from ActewAGL, Royal Canberra Golf Club and ACT Events to crunch the numbers and weigh up the tournament's future next month.
The ALPG's ability to lock in a multi-year deal for the Canberra Classic may hinge on a cash injection from more corporates in what Lunn concedes can be a crowded market.
"That’s our intention. This is the second year we’ve run it as our own event, but at the moment it is a year-to-year proposition with ActewAGL," Lunn said.
"We’ll go back to them after the event and talk about their intentions going forward. We’d obviously like to get more corporate support. We’ve got ACT Events on board which is great, but if we want this event to grow we need people to step up.
"We also need to bring on some other partners and sponsors. Last year’s event was a great success and there is no reason why this year’s won’t be as well. We just need a bit more corporate support.
"Canberra is only a small city relative to Sydney and Melbourne, so we understand the struggles there but we’ll certainly be doing our best to keep the event here.
"We’ll probably sit down with ActewAGL, Royal Canberra and ACT Events in April. We’ll have a look at all of the figures and work out attendances, live streaming figures, all that sort of stuff.
"We’ll review it and see what happens."
