http://youtu.be/9I7uJ7SmXCU
The Accenture Match Play Championships’
eight-year stay may be over for southern Arizona, putting an end to more than just golf.
“It would mean I have no job, so that’s what it would mean,” Executive Tournament Director Gerald Goodman said. “But, it would be a loss of an economic impact here for the community.”
Marana has been home to the Accenture Match Play Championship since 2007, but after this year, no one knows for sure where it will go.
Tournament Services Manager Callie Gibson has lived in Tucson her whole life, and knows leaving Tucson would be a big change.
“Working with the Accenture Match Play Championship, it’s the first tournament that I worked for,” Gibson said. “I started as an intern and then got hired full-time, so it’s kind of like my little baby that I grew up with.”
Shelly Somerville knows that if the tournament goes, so do her chances to meet new golfers, and new friends.
“I make connections with people that now, are my friends, that I have on Facebook or that we call and I help them get tickets, or they come stay at my house because I only live down the road,” Somerville said. “So I’ve made friends over the years, you know it’s not just about getting the signatures, it’s about friendships, too.”
However, Goodman knows golf isn’t leaving Arizona any time soon.
“If the Accenture doesn’t renew, then there is going to be golf here, so I don’t find it negative at all,” he said.
Talk of the tournament moving to Scottsdale has taken place, which may be good new for Arizona golf-lovers.