SAMMAMISH — In less than two weeks, major championship golf returns to the Seattle area when the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is played at Sahalee Country Club from June 20-23, and preparation for the event is nearly done. The pavilion and bleachers at the 18th hole are still being finished, but on a glorious Thursday afternoon, the course certainly looked close to tournament ready. “Everything’s gone about as well as we could have expected,” tournament director Jackie Endsley said.
“I think this beautiful weather now — knock on wood for the next couple of weeks — would really be helpful, not only for the course but to help our vendors get things up and ready.” Endsley said the PGA of America has a “rule of thumb” where they expect an average of 5,000 daily fans over the four days at this tournament, which the PGA of America became involved with beginning with the 2015 event. Endsley said the recent dominance of Nelly Korda, who recently won a LPGA record-tying five straight tournaments, and has won six of her past eight events, has increased interest in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and women’s professional golf in general.
“Ticket sales have gone up even more than we thought, so hopefully it’s even more than that (an average of 5,000 per day),” Endsley said. Endsley said she did not know the average daily attendance of the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee, when Brooke Henderson defeated Lydia Ko in a battle of teenage star.
