NAIA national tourney coming to Q-C

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By Craig DeVrieze | Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:07 AM CST | () comments

Dusty Drenth is going to have trouble taking golf one shot at a time this coming spring.

He wants to fast forward to May 2009 right now.

“I am really excited about this,’’ the St. Ambrose sophomore said after a Wednesday announcement that SAU and the TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., will host the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic men’s golf national

championships in 2009 and 2010.

“I love Deere Run,’’ said Drenth, a Davenporter who is the only home-grown Bee on this year’s team. “I have played there 30 or 40 times.’’

As tournament hosts, Drenth and his Fighting Bees teammates will be guaranteed a berth in both events, but the Bees have been pretty good about getting in on their own, having played in six straight national championships and 10 of the past 11.

Drenth is hoping the real advantage to hosting the event will be the opportunity to improve on a school-best third-place finish in 2004.

“It is going to help having course knowledge,’’ Drenth said, adding of a team championship, “That is definitely going to be our goal.’’

The national championship events return to the Quad-Cities for the first time since 1967, when Davenport’s Emeis Golf Course hosted the event. The tourney also was held there in 1963.

The events will bring 30 teams and 166 golfers to the Quad-Cities in mid-May of both years.

Ambrose golf coach Jeff Griebel pursued the NAIA tournaments with significant help from Lynn Hunt of the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Quad-Cities Sports Commission.

Hunt said golfers and coaches will spend $200,000 over the five days they are here each year, with families and other supporters spending an additional $100,000 in the community.

Hunt said the tournament will require at least 130 hotel rooms per night.

The 2009 event will be held May 18-22, and the 2010 event will take place May 17-21.

Griebel said the NAIA likely would not have awarded St. Ambrose the bid were it not for the involvement of Deere Run, a PGA Tour-owned facility that annually hosts the John Deere Classic.

He said Deere Run will be the most impressive course to host the tournament since PGA National in Palm Beach, Fla., hosted the 1999 event.

“It will be the nicest course we have played in 10 years, no question in my mind,’’ said the veteran coach. “And they have played at some nice places.’’

Griebel said participating schools will pay an entry fee that will go to the golf course but called a negotiated fee with the 8-year-old Silvis course “a reasonable price.’’

Ian Nicoll, director of golf at Deere Run, said the May events won’t impact preparations for the JDC, which is held in early July.

He said the chief benefit his course will experience hosting the NAIA events is the fact that tournaments will benefit the Quad-Cities.

“It’s about the Quad-Cities — that’s what it is all about,’’ he said.

Drenth knows several Quad-Citians who will be as excited to see the tourney come here as is he.

“I’ve got a lot of family and friends who live around here,’’ he said. “They can come out and support me.’’

The Bees already have qualified for this year’s national tourney, which will be in May in Plymouth, Ind.

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com