CITY LEADERS SEEING GREEN IN GOLF EVENT : '98 PGA TOURNAMENT COULD DRAW THOUSANDS OF SPECTATORS TO AREA.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

A planned PGA Tournament at the Valencia Country Club in 1998 could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for local restaurants, hotels and attractions.

The weeklong tournament, usually held in February, is expected to draw up to 150,000 spectators and 144 players that could include the likes of Tiger Woods, Corey Pavin and Fred Couples.

``This is a major coup. This gives us national exposure,'' said Marc Aronson, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. ``It's going to give us the opportunity to showcase this valley. It will give the community a lot of exposure for future tourism and relocation of businesses to Santa Clarita.''

Mayor Carl Boyer said the event will give Santa Clarita a financial boost.

``It's probably going to fill up our local hotels, fill up our local restaurants and bring in some small amount of revenue through occupancy taxes and sales tax,'' Boyer said. ``It will give Santa Clarita a lot of exposure for people who want to come here and a national TV audience, which always helps us to attract people.''

Newhall Land and Farming Co.'s planned 250-room hotel and conference center, scheduled for completion in late 1997, will open just in time for the Nissan Open, formerly known as the Los Angeles Open.

``We're very excited about having the Los Angeles Open in Valencia,'' said company spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. ``It's great exposure for the community and the local residents will really enjoy it as well. We expect to have the new hotel and conference center open in plenty of time so it can host visitors to Los Angeles Open and provide a venue for visitors.''

Valencia was chosen as the site for the Nissan Open after the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades was unable to accommodate that event and the U.S. Senior Open in 1998. Under its contract with Nissan, the country club cannot hold two major tournaments simultaneously.

The Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, which has hosted the open for 71 years, said it considered eight to 10 golf courses before choosing the Valencia Country Club.

``We looked at a number of golf courses and Valencia came up to be one of the top courses that wanted to have us,'' said Tom Pulchinski, tournament director for the junior chamber.

The chamber considered the difficulty of the Valencia course, its access to the public, space for corporate-sponsored hospitality tents and its proximity to local hotels and restaurants.

``You need to have a course that's a little bit longer (than traditional courses),'' Pulchinski said. ``We also looked at: Is it easy for our customers to get there?; Will they have good amenities?; Will it be easy for them to stay close? (Valencia Country Club) did well.''

``Valencia obviously has an outstanding facility that's very capable of playing host to the tournament and accommodating the gallery of spectators,'' said Toby Zwikel, spokesman for the junior chamber. ``There's ample parking and the course is a very demanding course and will provide a great test for the PGA Tour.''

The open in Los Angeles is the oldest civic sponsored event on the PGA Tour. Valencia will become the 11th course to host the tournament in 71 years, officials said.