The number of out-of-towners descending on Toledo, Ohio for the event being held at the Inverness Club through September 6th could top 100,000, even with an expected influx of 15,000 Europeans now cut down to fewer than 1,000 because of lingering pandemic-related concerns and restrictions. Other public and private clubs in the Toledo area are reporting a boost in rounds and outings being booked around the tournament, which pits 12 players from the Ladies European Tour against 12 from the U.S.’s Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour.
With an influx of golf-enthused fans in the Toledo, Ohio area for the 2021 Solheim Cup, being held at Toledo’s Inverness Club from August 31st to September 6th, other area courses have been filling up, The Blade of the Toledo reported.
“People have been making tee times from out-of-state for the last several weeks,” Sherry Bradner, Clubhouse Manager of the Eagle’s Landing Golf Club in Oregon, Ohio, told The Blade.
A group of 12 golfers from Maryland will play the course on multiple days, Brader told The Blade. She has also had callers with European accents reach out, but she couldn’t confirm where they lived. (The Solheim Cup competition pits 12 players from the Ladies European Tour against 12 from the U.S.’s Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour.)
“Between the weather and Solheim Cup, we’ll see an increase in business,” Bradner said. “We have all the ingredients to have a great week.”
Also in Oregon, the Maumee Bay State Golf Course, with an acclaimed Arthur Hills design that opened in 1991, was scheduled to host an outing of about 50 players on September 2nd and 3rd made up entirely of out-of-state residents, The Blade reported. And the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center, which has 120 guest rooms and deluxe cabins, was booked for the entire week.
Private clubs including Toledo Country Club and Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio have also seen a surge in business around the Solheim competition, The Blade reported. Toledo Country Club is hosting two outings, while Highland Meadows expects to have 100 additional rounds during the coming week.
“A bunch of people from out of state have been calling non-stop,” said Garrett Stine, Assistant Golf Professional at Toledo Country Club, told The Blade. “We’re squeezing them in. It’s a boom.”
Even country music star Darius Rucker, scheduled to be part of a celebrity pro-am on September 2nd at Inverness, contacted Toledo Country Club about playing its 1897 Willie Park, Jr., layout, The Blade reported.
The number of out-of-towners descending on Toledo for the Solheim Cup event could top 100,000, The Blade reported. Some 15,000 Europeans were originally expected, but that number has been pared down to fewer than 1,000 because of lingering pandemic-related concerns and restrictions, with Spain now representing a bulk of the foreign travelers who will come to the area.
But the absence of a few thousand Europeans will not dampen the enthusiasm in Toledo, where the Solheim Cup’s arrival has been one of the most anticipated events in the city’s history since Inverness was awarded the bid in 2016, The Blade reported.
“Everyone who knows me knows I’m a big sports fan. But I don’t look at the Solheim Cup as a sporting event. I look at it as an economic development event,” said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “The reason we’ve put so much energy and effort into this—everything from redesigning streets downtown, improving greenspace and the [Glass City Metropark], to a half-dozen other things — is because it’s an important economic event. If we do well, it has the ability to bring future investments to Toledo.”
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