Quail Hollow Championship deserves its honor

When the Quail Hollow Championship was recognized this week as 'Best In Class' by the PGA Tour's Tournament Advisory Council it reinforced what many people already knew -- it's one of the premier events in professional golf.

What tournament director Kym Hougham, general chairman Mac Everett, Quail Hollow president Johnny Harris and many others have done is create and sustain an event that gets it right in areas big and small.

It lands the best players in the world every spring because of the golf course, the hospitality and the vibe. It engages the community which, in turn, has embraced the tournament.

Talking with the tournament director of another top-level PGA Tour event recently, he gushed about all the things the Quail Hollow Championship has done so well. It has become a standard of excellence on the PGA Tour.

It would be easy to take it all for granted but the people in charge haven't done that. Each year they keep list of potential improvements and go to work on them immediately. They've scaled back in some places, upgraded in other areas.

Everett may have explained the philosophy best a couple of years ago when he said that unlike many businesses that immediately say no to any request then look for a reason to say yes, the Quail Hollow Championship tries to say yes and only says no when it must.

Each spring, it's Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other the golfers who get the attention but the stars of the Quail Hollow Championship are the many people who make it happen.