The PGA Grand Slam of Golf, known to professional golfers as “the toughest event to qualify for in golf,” will be much easier for fans to attend. Ample parking will be allowed along Ala Konoiki, or the Koloa bypass road,
The PGA Grand Slam of Golf, known to professional golfers as “the toughest event to qualify for in golf,” will be much easier for fans to attend.
Ample parking will be allowed along Ala Konoiki, or the Koloa bypass road, and free shuttles will run roughly every 15 minutes between the bypass road and the entrance to Poipu Bay Golf Course.
The festivities begin with a pro-am event this Thursday, Dec. 4, with tee-off at 10 a.m. The actual two-day event, with a $1 million purse and pitting the winners of this year’s four major championships, is Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5 and 6, with tee times at 9 a.m. both days.
Tickets are $40 for all three days, or if purchased separately $10 for the pro-am, and $20 for each day of tourney play. Tickets will be available at the gate. Gate hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
For more ticket information, please call toll-free 1-800-PGA-TCKT (1-800-742-8258), or visit www.PGA.com online.
Fans 17 and under can get free tickets at the gate when accompanied by ticketed adults.
Cameras will be allowed on the course only Thursday, which is also the only day autographs will be signed.
For all three days of golf, bags will be searched at the gate, and several items will not be allowed on the course, including weapons, coolers, cellular phones, pagers, signs, radios, ladders, folding chairs, and pets.
The event is televised to some 86.7 million U.S. homes by TNT, and to more than 100 countries worldwide. The Friday action will be shown from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., while Saturday’s play will be televised from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Poipu Bay Golf Course for the 10th straight year is hosting the tourney, which this year features Masters Champion Mike Weir, U.S. Open Champion Jim Furyk, British Open Champion Ben Curtis and PGA Champion Shaun Micheel.
It is the first time the tourney is to be held in December, and the first time since 1969 where golf’s Grand Slam events were won by first-time-major champions.
An 11th straight stop at Poipu Bay Golf Course has already been scheduled for next year, when the tourney is set for Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 2 to 4.
The winners of golf’s four major championships in 2004: The Masters (at Augusta, Ga.), U.S. Open (at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.), British Open (at Royal Troon, Scotland) and PGA Championship (at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.), qualify for next year’s PGA Grand Slam of Golf.
The PGA Grand Slam of Golf, which originated in 1979, has involved 48 major champions prior to this season.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
