BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Preliminaries for the 16th playing of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open − part PGA Tour Champions tournament, part musical treat and part old-home week − get underway at En-Joie Golf Course in earnest Wednesday and the event continues through the conclusion of final-round play Sunday.
The defending champion could hardly be of higher profile, and ditto for the Friday night concert headliner relative to modern country acts.
The former, Padraig Harrington, has gone down as one of the most popular champions since the Dick’s Open’s 2007 inaugural event, for reasons extending beyond scoreboard superiority.
The latter, Kenny Chesney, represents a high blip on the tournament’s screen in terms of big-timers to perform Friday night off the 18th green.
“I’d like to think we’ve got a lot going for everybody, whether it’s people watchers, golf fans, kids − the whole bit,” said tournament director John Karedes.
All told, it would appear the latest in a long line of summertime sports and entertainment offerings in Endicott is up to snuff, though falling on a mighty crowded weekend. For how that might impact the masses, one needn’t look beyond Karedes, who’ll duck away from the premises to attend son Jake’s graduation Saturday morning.
“It’s actually the kids, because certain ages are still going to have finals. So, it is making it a little bit more challenging for some of those organizations where kids under 18 do help us,” Karedes said of the graduation-weekend conflict. “But I think we’re covered. It just took a bit more creativity and a few more phone calls to get it done. But I think we’re in good shape.”
For many visitors, the week’s highlight will come after sundown Friday when Chesney walks on stage. He and his band played to 1.3 million fans on their 2022 Tour, stops including 21 NFL venues.
“We’re bringing that show to Endicott and it’s big. I think it’s the biggest show that we’ve had when it comes to the name, the star power,” Karedes said. “But what we’re going to do is make it like a 14,000-people night. This isn’t going to be a 20,000-type night with fans.”
Concert attendees approached a Dick’s Open-high 25,000, Karedes said, for the 2017 Bon Jovi fiasco.
Back to defend his championship will be 51-year-old Harrington, whose Dick’s Open debut brought rounds of 66-67-67 and a three-stroke victory over Mike Weir and Thongchai Jaidee, with Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh another shot back.
Harrington’s impact last summer, and presumably this week, was and will be felt beyond numbers relative to par.
“Padraig is such a nice guy, and an amazing guy when you look at what he’s done around the world,” Karedes said. “He certainly likes the grasses here in the Northeast, when he was at Saucon Valley last year, here, he made the Senior PGA cut at Oak Hill. When it comes to his sheer personality, they don’t come any nicer.”
“ … He made time for everybody (post-tournament 2022). Here’s a guy who has been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, but here we are in Endicott, N.Y., he took time for everybody, autograph-wise, picture-wise, anything that anyone was looking for. He made sure that they did not leave empty-handed.”
Among other highly recognizable players who’ve committed to play at En-Joie: Darren Clarke, John Daly, Ernie Els, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh.
One of the most-followed players across decades at En-Joie will not be in the field for the first time since his 2008 Dick’s Open debut.
Joey Sindelar, long-time Horseheads resident now residing in the Town of Lansing and twice a B.C. Open champion, has concluded his competitive playing career due to health reasons. He will, however, play in Dick’s Open Pro-Ams Wednesday and Thursday.
As for what spectators may discover to be new and/or updated?
“Last year we were still coming off COVID, still coming off 2021, no tournament in 2020,” Karedes said. “I think in 2023, I can say ‘We’re back.’ And we’re back as far as crowds, concession stands, I think all but one of the bleachers have already been put in place.
“The concert is a little bit bigger than what we’ve done but we still aren’t going huge because we’d like to keep it to a manageable fun crowd. That was one of the things we learned during COVID that bigger isn’t always better. We’re looking for a comfortable crowd for concert night.”
