Sunshine, Hogs are a recipe for success

Spectators following Stacy Lewis line up along the fairway on No. 18 Saturday during the second round of the Northwest Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers. Tournament chairman Jay Allen said Saturday’s crowd was the largest he’s seen in the event’s nine-year run.
Spectators following Stacy Lewis line up along the fairway on No. 18 Saturday during the second round of the Northwest Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers. Tournament chairman Jay Allen said Saturday’s crowd was the largest he’s seen in the event’s nine-year run.

ROGERS -- A number of factors contributed to what LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship officials called a record crowd Saturday at Pinnacle Country Club.

Thousands of fans took advantage of spring-like temperatures in the 80s and brilliant sunshine to cheer on the top professional female golfers in the world in the second round of the LPGA Tour event.

It was a far cry from Friday's first round, which featured weather-related delays totalling more than four hours. The delays caused a number of golfers to cut their first round short and finish up Saturday morning. Included in that group was defending tournament champion and crowd favorite Stacy Lewis, who completed her first round and then posted a solid second round to finish 9 under going into today's final round.

"Yesterday was a tough day for our golf fans with pulling the players on and off the golf course due to storms, but today they came out in droves," said Harry Hardy, the tournament director. "Visually this looks like the largest crowd we've ever had."

Lewis, the former Arkansas All-American and the top U.S. women's player, was followed by a large gallery Saturday who walked alongside her group, which also included Sandra Gal and Mariajo Uribe.

"We turned around walking up the tee on 18 and just to see that, I mean, that was a huge amount of people coming up 18 with us," Lewis said. "I think the crowds are bigger than last year.

"It's just so cool how the community supports this tournament. We try to make it fun for them to have a lot of fun events going on with concerts and all that kind of stuff, but I just can't thank this community enough for coming out and supporting us."

Tournament chairman Jay Allen said actual crowd figures are not kept, but he agreed that Saturday's crowd was the largest he's seen in the nine years the tournament has been played at Pinnacle Country Club.

"There is no question this is the biggest crowd we have ever had," Allen said. "Optically you can see that. We parked more cars today than we ever have."

The popularity of the tournament has paralleled the rise of Lewis' career. She played in the first tournament in 2007 and was declared the unofficial winner when the tournament was washed out after only one round. As she has risen to No. 1 in the world in 2014, so has the popularity of the tournament in Northwest Arkansas.

Uribe said players relish playing in front of large crowds, especially when they are in the same pairing as Lewis at the Northwest Arkansas event.

"There's so much crowd for her here, you just play off that energy," said Uribe, who is playing in this event for the sixth time and is 7 under after the first two rounds. "We love to come here."

Officials have made a concerted effort to make the par-3 No. 17 a signature hole on the LPGA Tour. Tournament officials paired with Gatorade to make the hole "the loudest hole on Tour." Large crowds gather in the grandstand on the right side of the fairway and halfway around the green, bantering with golfers as they play the hole.

Fans even hummed the theme music from the Pink Panther cartoon as Paula Creamer, who is known on tour as the Pink Panther because of her affinity for the color, walked up the fairway.

Na Yeon Choi, who is at 13 under, also praised the crowds.

"Awesome, awesome," Choi said. "Like the loudest hole is 17. Even that hole I had a great shot, I finished inside of one foot and the crowd was crazy for me. Then, even hole 18, when I made eagle putt, they were like crazy. A lot of crowd supporting me that makes me, like, excited."

Allen said a combination of events have led to the increased popularity of the tournament. People are talking about it, and not just during tournament week.

"You can feel it in the community," Allen said. "It's a big-time event. The Razorback factor is big, but it's just grown every year. People talk about it. It's high on people's radar."

Sports on 06/28/2015

Upcoming Events