Amateur event will take a pro effort.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

Along with the biggest track and field meet that Eugene has ever hosted, the summer of 2008 will bring Eugene's biggest golf tournament ever.

The track meet, the Olympic Trials scheduled June 27-July 8 of 2008 at Hayward Field, is bigger in stature now - and, certainly, in cost - than the previous Trials held here in 1972, 1976 and 1980.

The golf tournament, the 108th U.S. Women's Amateur scheduled Aug. 4-10 of 2008 at Eugene Country Club, is also far bigger in terms of stature than the previous U.S. Golf Association events held at the course - the 1964 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 1993 Mid-Amateur and the 2002 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur.

The budget for the Trials has been estimated at $6 million. The budget for the golf tournament is $450,000, a significant enough amount for the club to raise, especially during a time when the Trials also will be seeking sponsorships, and the club already has started its campaign.

"I think that does increase the difficulty," said Eugene lawyer Bill Potter, co-chairman of the club's committee for the women's amateur. "Some people that we're interested in approaching are also being tapped by the Olympic Trials. We started our effort earlier than we otherwise would have because of that. ...

"I definitely think it's doable, but it's not going to be easy. We need some fairly good-sized gifts; we're not going to get there in small amounts. But when you go to a business and ask them to make a contribution, we have significant restrictions by the USGA about not commercializing the event."

Potter noted that potential sponsors might "get excited about 18 holes of live TV and ask `How many times will our name appear on TV?' and we say `None. Zero.'

"So it makes it tough."

And, yes, there will be live television coverage, on the Golf Channel, the first time ever that TV towers will be erected at the Eugene Country Club, Potter said. That will give ECC unprecedented national exposure, and the tournament itself will bring competitors and followers, and - with free admission - draw crowds because of the course's accessible location.

"This is our fourth USGA championship, and it is many times the size of any we've had before," Potter said. "This will be by far the biggest golf event ever in Eugene."

Members of ECC committees will be attending this year's U.S. Women's Amateur, Aug. 7-13 at Pumpkin Ridge near Portland. Potter and co-chairman Neil Warne, a Eugene architect, attended last year's tournament, won by 17-year-old Morgan Pressel. Another 17-year-old, Jane Park, won the previous year; the previous two winners were just 21.

"They're getting younger and younger, and they're getting better and better," Warne said. "That was one of the things that blew us away, is how young they are and how good they are. When you see it, it's the kind of thing that strikes you - a little 90-pound girl hitting it 240 yards. You don't see that every day. And they have touch, and poise around the greens.

"It's no shock to me that women's golf has zoomed the last few years."

And the sport has an international flavor. Warne expects competitors from 30 countries; the 2003 winner came from Thailand.

In format, the tournament will consist of 156 competitors, who will play 36 holes of stroke play to cut the field to 64 golfers for match play; the final two survivors of match play will play a 36-hole match the final day to determine the champion.

For the effort of hosting the event, the Eugene Country Club will get the largest national exposure it's ever had, but little tangible benefit. "The reason we do it is that it's an honor to do it," Warne said. "Any golfer, they love the game, and this is giving back to the game. That's the longer-term look that we take. ...

"We're getting back something a little intangible, but we believe it's good for the game, good for our club, and good for the community to bring in an event like this."

As they make the rounds in fundraising, Potter and Warne will try to inspire potential donors with that same vision.