Homa said living in the Scottsdale-Phoenix area has allowed him to see the way the community embraces the WM Phoenix Open, but he does think the formula could work in other places under the right circumstances. And he understands that the SSG agreement will likely have investors looking for a return on their dollar.
Targeting younger audiences with the Phoenix approach could help.
“I think in a vacuum, that would work. I don’t think people recognize that this city, this is like a part of the culture. I don’t know if you’ve spent much time at ASU, but it’s kind of unique to that.
“I think that we’ve had events try to do similar types of things. The Rocket Mortgage does a great job at the end of their tournament. 15 has a semi-enclosed area and it’s a party hole. I’ve seen the LIV Tour does a similar thing. Adelaide does a great job. You can try, but you do need the culture of the city to be behind it to make it that great.
“I think that this city, it’s like a part of — living here all the time, people just call this the Open: Are you going to the Open? Are you going to the Open? It’s a massive ordeal here.
“I think that you could try and do that, and I don’t think it would be successful. If they were to venture down that and it did work, I think I would like it. It’s fun. I just think it is unique to Scottsdale.
“I think making golf younger is a big goal. It’s tough in cities where — if we go to LA next week, it’s a completely — there’s not a ton of young people that live in the Pacific Palisades unless you’re lucky enough for your parents to be very successful. It’s a pretty tough area to get real estate.
“I just think that it would be great to keep doing something like this. I just don’t think it would always land — I’m sure this costs a lot of money to do, but they’re going to get a great return. I’m just not sure it would be something that people would want to venture down. But it is fun to at least have this event with this demographic that at the very least is bringing eyeballs to younger people that this is at least something, and maybe if just a couple people grab on to that and say, I really like golf now, that’s a success to me.”
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