I first came to the Puerto Rico Open three years ago in 2011 with The Golf Channel. This time I am back with a media credential as “Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary” to report on the tournament competition, tourism in Puerto Rico and the Island Chapter of the PGA of America (including the history of golf in Puerto Rico through the Puerto Rico Golf Association). This posting will focus on the tournament proper and who better to start with than the Tournament Chairman Sidney Wolf?
CLICK here for the VIDEO INTERVIEW with Sidney Wolf, Tournament Chairman.
As the picture above shows we had a fun and entertaining interview. Sidney is involved with golf in Puerto Rico like no one else. In addition to being Tournament Chairman of as he puts it “where the PGA TOUR plays this week,” he has been the President of the Puerto Rico Golf Association (PRGA) since 1995. Interestingly, 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRGA by Jim Teale and the 30th anniversary of Sidney starting to play the game of golf. In the interview Sidney touches all the bases as far as major stake holders in staging the Puerto Rico Open including himself and his committee, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (www.SeePuertoRico.com), the Diaz family with their Grand Melia Golf Resort and of course Mr. Donald Trump whose name brands the Trump International Golf Club.
The award-winning fan-friendly event continues to out do itself again this year with a players’ fishing derby, a junior golf tournament, a Paella (recipe based rice cooked with other foods in a wide frying pan) cooking contest, and a performance by the El Grand Combo (“the most popular Salsa group that has existed for over 50 years”). All this for charity, including the golf tournament, which has raised over three million dollars in only six years of existence.
Five hundred years after Columbus discovered the Americas, the Government of Puerto Rico established The Puerto Rico Tourism Company to make Puerto Rico the first choice for world travelers and business in the Caribbean. As the presenting sponsor for the Puerto Rico Open they have brought Puerto Rico into the homes of 500 million Golf Channel subscribers around the world. This year the television broadcast was spectacular with aerial videos of the beautiful natural habitat that is Puerto Rico.
I had the distinct privilege to interview Ingrid Rivera Rocafort, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. With an extensive background in consumer marketing, she came out of retirement (sorry but it must have been a real early retirement as she looks quite young) to be appointed by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla. I met a handful of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company folks and I can tell you this is not like any mainland government agency you have known. See the video for yourself but Ms. Rocafort is simply a native of Puerto Rico that loves her 5-star island and knows in her heart that Puerto Rico is the “best brand ever.” I counted 27 reasons stated by the head of tourism in the “Land of Enchantment.” The anchor reasons were ones like convenient travel requiring no passport, the people, the weather, the golf, the water, remember it is an island! The subtle and news ones for me were the dry forest, the desert climate in some areas and the paradors (quaint country inns) in the mountains where it can be a chilly 65 versus the automatic year-round 85-degree weather. How many reasons to visit Puerto Rico do you hear in Ingrid’s interview?
Every PGA TOUR event needs a host. With the Puerto Rico Open being contested at the Trump International Golf Club one might think that host is Donald Trump. Wrong would that person be. Actually the host is the “Donald Trump of Puerto Rico” but his name is Jorge Diaz. He, his brother Arturo and the Diaz family own the Trump International Golf Club (paying rights to the brand to the Donald), the Grand Melia Resort and a lot more in Puerto Rico. Though elusive in terms of a video interview, Mr. Jorge Diaz gave me plenty of time to get a sense of his family and their humble contribution to the betterment of Puerto Rico. The family business started with his father Arturo Sr. who was “100% Puerto Rican” and pursued a construction business “before, during and after” the 1952 transition from a Territory to a Commonwealth. He started with a truck and 75 dollars. The family’s Sunday drive was Jorge driving with Dad taking notes of the status of various construction sites. The Diaz family asphalt business literally paved most of Puerto Rico in addition to building bridges and hotels. The helicopter pad at Trump International is Jorge’s not Donald’s. After all even the Donald can’t be in two places at one time on the PGA TOUR.
One cannot tell the story of the 2014 Puerto Rico Open without telling the story of the Puerto Rico Golf Association (PRGA) and its founder Jim Teale. Born in Ohio, Jim moved to Minnesota where he became a Big 10 Golf Champion and caught the eye of Gene Sarazen when, as a No. 64 seed he beat the No. 1 seed in the NCAAs. Jim served his country in the United States Navy in the South Pacific and liked the part about no snow in the tropics and palm trees. He came to Puerto Rico in 1949 to settle down and has never left. Back then they were putting on circular sand greens that were treated with coconut oil and had to be mopped with a burlap sack to smooth them out for putting. At nearly age 92, this Jimmy Stewart-look alike lets the memories take him back to friends of “all creeds and cultures” that he has made through the game of golf. He lies though when he says his “golf game is not very good.” I played with him at Dorado Beach East and his game is solid tee to green and on the 6th green I saw him make a nice 20-footer for par. I left a noninterview segment in at the start of his video interview. Now you see when he is so successful and why the PRGA has been all these sixty years… it all started with the right seed!
Another sponsor with the Puerto Rico Open since the start has been Liberty, the largest cable television company outside the United States. I met Gabriel Palerm, VP Sales, Media & Marketing and had to interview such a lively character. A native of Puerto Rico he was excited as anybody right after Rafael Campos finished playing the 18th hole on Sunday and posted a 9-under par score. Liberty sees this golf tournament as the “premier sporting event in Puerto Rico” and enthusiastically supports it like Sidney Wolf, the Diaz family, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and the other sponsors. I liked Garbiel’s viewpoint of Olympic Golf- not understanding why it wasn’t in the Olympics and sees golf as an individual and team sport like any other Olympic Sport.
Every PGA TOUR event needs a champion golfer and the 2014 Puerto Rico Open received a fine one with Chesson Hadley finishing birdie-birdie to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. I went out to see him finish the second round late on Friday. He made a nice up-and-down on the 9th green (his 18th) to save par and post a 65 and trail by only one stroke at the midway point. In the after-round interview I remember his empathetic use of the word “pathetic” when describing an early season streak of five missed cuts. His wife Amanda held the camera for my interview with Miguel “Junior” Colon for the Island Chapter of the PGA of America. Players Services volunteer Mayra Moreno helped out with Baby Hughes during the week. Chesson went out and shot a pair of 67s on the weekend to win in only his 13th PGA TOUR event.
If there was ever a “feel good” week on the PGA TOUR this was it. The folks I was introduced to at the Wednesday Media conference became friends by Sunday as they shared their beautiful island home, their tournament and most thankfully themselves with me. Puerto Rico is definitely a five-star golf and tourist destination. Ditto that for the Puerto Rico Open and its 2014 Champion Chesson Hadley.
Enjoy the pictures and the rest of the stories from the 2014 Puerto Rico Open presented by SeePuertoRico.com