Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce

10/1/2007 - Mayor says Navistar LPGA Classic unified area communities

Prattville mayor says tourney 'unified' communities in area

PRATTVILLE -- The weather was perfect, the galleries were big, the competition was tense and exciting, the finish was breathtaking.When the Navistar LPGA Classic came to a close Sunday, Maria Hjorth was the winner.But it was hard to find a loser among the hundreds of golfers and volunteers and the thousands of fans from near and far who descended on the The Senator course.

Prattville Mayor Jim Byard was beaming about what he called the "yes we can" attitude the people of his town showed in providing infrastructure and support. On Sunday, many of the volunteers obviously came straight to work after church. They drove shuttles or served lunches still wearing neckties and Sunday dresses.But Byard was quick to point out that the event benefited all the people in the tri-county area -- who have been known to squabble from time to time."It unified our communities," he said. "Prattville hosted it, but Millbrook and Montgomery benefited from retail sales, hotel occupancy and the entertainment value.

"Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright was fairly giddy after Hjorth sank her final putt. He was effusive praising Montgomery's sister city to the north."This is wonderful, it was a beautiful tournament," he said. "What a wonderful day, and what a great day for the river region. I want to thank Prattville for what they've done for our community. I commend all the people who made this possible."

Byard pointed out that Stacy Prammanasudh, who finished second, took in a movie Friday night to cool down and relax after the second round. So did the many visitors who came to follow their favorite golfers."When people come here to this sporting event and they want to go out afterwards and get something to eat, or to go out and have fun, they don't know or care whether they're in Prattville, Millbrook or Montgomery," Byard said.

Prattville City Councilman Dean Argo looked over the Sunday crowd and made a sweeping gesture."What's so impressive to me is the international feel," he said. "You had the families and the people who follow their favorite international players."But you also saw so many people who live here who identified with the international golfers -- people from the Hispanic community who came to cheer on Lorena, people from the Korean community that's grown so because of Hyundai here, following players from their country."It showed off the area's diversity and made Alabama look good, Byard said." The people from the LPGA are ecstatic," he said. "The people from the Golf Channel are ecstatic."The LPGA is growing in stature, Argo said.

The presence of the international golfers has raised the level of play and officials in Prattville hope they're in on the ground floor of that organization's growth boom. Fueling growth booms was the purpose of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail when it Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner made the controversial decision to use RSA funds to build the statewide golf trail.

The courses in Prattville, which 10 years ago were cotton fields and a tract of empty land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, have helped Prattville grow from a fuel stop on Interstate 65 to a booming community of 30,000. "It's been a factor," Byard said. He even managed to put a dollar figure on it.In 1996, the year before the RTJ course opened, the revenue from hotel tax was $100,000.

Last year, it was $1.5 million.More than 100,000 people play the RTJ courses in Prattville every year. About 60 percent of them are from out of town."If there's a (Montgomery) Biscuits game, or something at the (Alabama) Shakespeare Festival going on, they may drive down to Montgomery and take that in," he said.And maybe somebody who visited for the LPGA tournament will come back at another time to play the courses, he said."It all works together," he said.

Alvin Benn contributed to this report.

<-- Go Back