Atunyote almost ready for PGA tourney - Thursday, August 16, 2007

VERNON, N.Y. - The Atunyote Golf Club is just about ready for the big time. The first Turning Stone Resort Championship, the area's first PGA Tour event, is about a month away, and the 3-year-old course has been getting a makeover that is just about complete. The course has been lengthened by 160 yards, trees have been planted at key spots to raise the level of difficulty, the rough is growing long, bleachers have been installed at prime viewing locations and parking lots are being built at a breakneck pace as the Oneida Indian Nation prepares for the $6 million tournament, the first in the PGA Tour's new fall series. The tournament will be played over the 7,475-yard layout Sept. 20 through 23. And the tees, fairways and greens look simply beautiful. "You don't want to peak too early," said veteran pro Notah Begay III, the tourney's official ambassador. "You not always sure of the weather, but one or two weeks this place will be immaculate, as good as any place in the country." Begay, a four-time PGA winner and the only full-blooded Native American on the Tour, and Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbritter provided updates on the tourney during media day Wednesday. Halbritter said he expects approximately 100,000 people to attend the tournament — "We're hoping for more," he said — and said not a lot has to be done to get ready. Parking, he said, is being worked on, more than $140,000 already has been raised for charities, and the grandstand on the 18th hole has been sold out. Halbritter said PGA tournaments typically have a $25 million to $50 million impact on an area. "It will have that impact here," he said. "It will benefit the needs of the region."