SAN DIEGO — The buildout for the Genesis Invitational began in November, before Thanksgiving, and was ahead of schedule due to, ironically, a lack of rain.
That allowed those working to set up the tournament at Riviera Country Club to get structures such as grandstands, hospitality venues and ticketing locations in place ahead of the annual PGA Tour event that is now run by TGR Live, an arm of Tiger Woods’s foundation, known as the TGR Foundation.
But last month, as wildfires raged all around Los Angeles—due in part because the region had not had any significant rainfall in eight months—and very near the iconic course on Sunset Boulevard, it became clear to tournament organizers and those at the PGA Tour that it would be impossible to play the event there this week.
The course was closed, roads to the venue were not in use and there were far bigger concerns in the area than staging the $20 million tournament, which is one of the PGA Tour’s signature events and hosted by Woods.
“It wasn’t the right thing to do even if we could,” said Mike Antolini, senior vice president at TGR Live who runs the events associated with the TGR Foundation. “From there it became do we have the ability and the runway to relocate the tournament and really bring out what is a hallmark of PGA Tour events outside the ropes and to transform the energy into supporting wildlife relief events.
“That’s kind of where we are now. We really haven’t had much time to sit and reflect on anything.”
That’s because Antolini had to move his staff and operations crew 125 miles and two hours south at Torrey Pines, site of this week’s Genesis Invitational—and the annual site of the Farmers Insurance Open won by Harris English three weeks ago.
The Century Club, which has a host agreement with the PGA Tour and has been the longtime facilitator of the Farmers event at Torrey Pines, helped pave the way for the transition, a critical aspect to the move which also involved the golf course and the city of San Diego.
Among the challenges: refunding all tickets sold to the event in Los Angeles, then selling them here along with hospitality venues, coordinating volunteers and security issues.
Antolini and his staff moved into a trailer on site almost as soon as the Century Club people could move out a few weeks ago, and it’s been non-stop in attempting to make a tournament work at a different venue but one that is still familiar.
TGR Live had limited options. One of them was to cancel the event entirely, one that might have been a prudent financial decision for a host organization that stands to lose considerable sums in trying to pull this off.
Antolini did not disclose financial figures and instead wanted to keep the focus on helping the fire victims. But his entire mission in running TGR Live—which also includes the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas as well as other events in which Woods has a presence—is to run events that benefit Woods’s foundation, which the 15-time major champion founded in 1996.
But canceling was likely not an option, certainly not for the PGA Tour, which is in the business of staging tournaments for its membership.
The Tour collects big title sponsorship fees from Genesis and broadcast rights fees from CBS, Golf Channel and ESPN. Canceling would have meant refunds, and so the show goes on.
Then there is the matter of awareness, which the tournament will undoubtedly achieve.
“For someone from Los Angeles with friends who had to move and trying to figure out what they had to do, it still is very much on the forefront,” Homa said “It's great to have to have this be, kind of post-the news cycle moving along where it's back on people's minds. Myself, too, like this has been inspiring to do more and to continue to try and help the best I can.”
Genesis announced Tuesday that it is donating $8 million to wildfire relief efforts while also partnering with TGR Live and the PGA Tour to launch California Rises, a fundraising initiative.
All ticket sales will go to the charity and Genesis is also donating funds based on every birdie or better made during the tournament.
Proceeds from California Rises will go to four charitable organizations: the American Red Cross, World Central Kitchen, the California Fire Foundation and the Genesis Inspiration Foundation.
“It’s been an interesting and unique dynamic,” Antolini said. “In the event world, you have to condition yourself to expect the unexpected. Obviously we’re here because of a very serious and catastrophic set of circumstances. We’ve tried to harness our energy into making this week as successful as it can be to increase support for the region and the communities and the wildfire victims.
“We have a team of professionals that have been working around the clock. We have a lot of reps in the tournament event world and it is understood that events are a true collaborative and community effort. We’ve been welcomed with open arms and we quite frankly needed that in order to relocate in under a month. I think it’s a testament to the city of San Diego and the supporting entities.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Inside Story of the Genesis Invitational’s Move From Los Angeles to San Diego.
