While it's not yet in stone that the Triangle will host a PGA tour orSenior PGA tour event, the chances will go up tremendously Tuesday. WakefieldPlantation off Falls of the Neuse Road is a huge tract of land that wasannexed by the City of Raleigh two summers ago. Tuesday, Wakefield developerswill announce plans for a Hale Irwin designed golf course that could bringbig bucks to the Triangle.
Crews worked past dusk getting ready for Wakefield Plantation's groundbreakingto kick off the building of 4,000 homes, millions of square feet of commercialbuilding and one golf course. The course will be a Tournament Players Club,one of only a handful of TPC courses in the country.
Mayor Tom Fetzer said Raleigh is likely to get a PGA event.
There's a TPC track record to back up the mayor's optimism, almost everycity with a TPC course has a professional tournament. In Tampa, Fla., developersfinished a TPC course in 1991 and within one year the TPC of Tampa Bayplayed host to the GTE classic, a senior PGA tour event.
The Tampa Chamber of Commerce says that annual tournament is the biggestsporting event in the area, bigger than Tampa Bay Buccaneer games.
Fetzer said a PGA tour event would bring lots of money to Raleigh.
Inez Choplin, a 50-year resident of Raleigh, added up different numbers,saying her major concern was the traffic. PGA tournament or not, Choplinsays Falls of the Neuse will fall short in handling the cars.
Transportation leaders with both the state and the city say they'reconfident the area can handle the influx that's coming. As far as an announcementon a Raleigh PGA tour event, that won't come Tuesday, but many people feelit may be just around the corner. The course could be open as early asnext fall.
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