Golf Canada CEO expects big things from Women’s Open
Laurence Applebaum was in meetings most of Monday afternoon, talking in part — believe it or not — about portable toilets and hotdogs.
Infrastructure, it appeared, had been a discussion point based on just the first day of Canadian Pacific Women’s Open week at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.
For that, give thanks to Brooke Henderson.
The 19-year-old golf star from Smiths Falls had a sizable crowd around her on the course, and that was just for the Monday pro-am event on behalf of her own charitable foundation and the Golf Canada Foundation.
“Our hospitality, in some instances we’ve topped out, so we’re not going to sell any more in some of the areas where we’re at capacity. In some areas, we still have capacity. Absolutely, on tickets the curve is (upwardly) steep,” Applebaum, recently installed as Golf Canada’s new chief executive officer, said in reference to the estimated total attendance of 53,500 for last year’s event at Priddis Greens club near Calgary. “This market, in particular, people have big summer plans, so it’s usually a little bit of a later kind of walk-up, generally a stronger walk-up crowd. We’re targeting and forecasting that we’re going to be somewhere between 25 and 40 per cent up over last year, so it’s exciting.”
Attendance for the 2008 Women’s Open at Ottawa Hunt was pegged at 68,000, but Applebaum said that relied more on estimates, while current security measures would permit more accurate counting.
There was some visible oncourse security around the Monday group comprising Henderson and three amateur partners, and Applebaum said both visible and less-visible measures would be in place throughout the week.
One of Applebaum’s first significant events as CEO was the men’s RBC Canadian Open, a PGA Tour event held at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ont. He said 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., despite terrible on-course struggles for the past several years, still had a gallery “as big as any group on the course” around him for the first two rounds, and he expected more of the same with Henderson.
“She has caught some magic in a bottle, and to see her and how she deals with people, to see her speak publicly again today, there’s this genuineness about her and authentically Canadian that is really, really a tribute to her and her family,” said Applebaum, who on Tuesday is scheduled to join Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane in hosting a brunch for Henderson and 12s other Canadians in this Open. “I think she has had a lot of success early on in her career, and usually you see, the next year, sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle. She hasn’t had that. She has had some small setbacks here and there, but she is really going from strength to strength.”