Q&A with OSU Golf Club General Manager Marc Lucas – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Marc Lucas is the General Manager of The Ohio State University Golf Club and has overseen a number of tournaments since the Scarlet Course reopened in 2006. After the redesign by Buckeye legend Jack Nicklaus, the course has been on demand for a number of events, including the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Rolex Tournament of Champions in 2007, the 2006 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, 2008 NCAA Men’s Central Regional and next season it will host the 2009 NCAA Women’s Central Regional.
This week, the Scarlet Course is the site of the Nationwide Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational (July 24-27). It is the second year the event has been held at Ohio State’s home course and Lucas took a few moments out of his hectic schedule this week to discuss the course and its impact on increasing Ohio State’s exposure to the golf community.
Ohio State has hosted a lot of golf events here the last few years from juniors to college to professionals, what do you think that says about Scarlet as course?
I think it says that Scarlet is a fair and demanding test for the players and the coaches. It speaks volumes of the golf course because people want to play it. People demand to play it every day our members want to play it, their guests want to play it. People love coming here because the golf course is a nice, fair challenge.
What has the response been to the course from the various levels of golfers (members, college players, professionals)?
They love it. With all the rain we had this spring, it’s really greened us up from where we were last year. It’s a hard golf course with the rough as long as it is and as thick as it is, but they like it. Last year it ranked as the third hardest course on the Nationwide Tour and that’s with thin rough, so we’ll see what the scores are this year. I have a lot of friends that play out here and they can’t say enough about it.
Was increasing the number of events hosted the kind of response Ohio State was looking for with the redesign?
I’m not sure, only because I hadn’t been here that long. And Gene [Smith, Ohio State Director of Athletics] hadn’t been here that much longer either. So it’s kind of a new team. All of us want exposure for Scarlet and the best way to get that is to host big events and nationally televised events. The AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions, the NCAA tournaments and this Nationwide Tour event has brought it here. Those feed other opportunities here, too. People see it, get exposed to it and now every one wants to play it, so it’s definitely working in our favor to get that exposure.
How do you think hosting these events has helped Ohio State and its golf programs?
I think it gives exposure to the coaches for recruiting, especially the AJGA events. During this Nationwide event, we get national exposure through The Golf Channel and kids can see this on TV and see what a challenge it is. Most players want to go to the hardest place to learn how to play the game. It’s good for our exposure in that realm.
Have you heard anything from the alums that come back and play the redesigned course?
They like it. With golf, technology has made the golf ball go further and a lot of the fairway bunkers were out of play, so just repositioning the fairway bunkers and making the greenside bunkers a little more difficult that’s what they like to see. Everybody likes to shoot a low score, but not necessary on an easy golf course.
How has the central Ohio golf community responded to having such high-profile events take place in their area?
This is probably one of the best areas for great golf courses with Muirfield and Double Eagle there are five or six in the Top 20 nationwide. People know their golf here and they know this place stacks up with all the others. This is just a golf crazy town, so it’s a great spot for our members that they can be a part of this.
What’s up next for the Scarlet Course?
This is the second year of a three-year contract for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational. We have the opportunity to renegotiate for an extra three years after this year. We’ll definitely have it for three and the possibility for another three will take us to 2012. Ideally I think Nationwide would like to take it to 2012 because they just renegotiated their contract with the PGA TOUR and their sponsorship is up around2012. It fits into our schedule and their schedule as far as timing goes.
Some of the other events include doing as many AJGA events as we can and the NCAA women’s regional next spring. We do the state high school championships and that’s good because it’s centrally located and it’s a good test for them too. We have to be picky and choose the right events because the place is busy and we have 920 members here that pay to play the golf course. So every time we close it to them, we have to have a good reason and be able to justify it. We try to be picky and choose the best events.
