Harris Anticipates One-Year Extension For Wells Fargo Event

Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris said today he anticipates a one-year extension to the current contract between the club, Wells Fargo and the PGA Tour to extend the event through 2015.

The contract expires in 2014 and there have been questions about what happens to the event with the PGA Championship scheduled in 2017 at Quail Hollow.

“As we go forward in preparation for 2017, the one year that sort of isn’t decided is 2015,” Harris said.

“With the success we’re having with the tournament and the enthusiasm Wells Fargo has for this event now, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t have the opportunity in the not too distant future to discuss a one-year extension that gets us through 2015.

“Long-term, we don’t know what happens after the PGA Championship but we look forward to that too. We want to continue to bring the best players in the world to Charlotte. That’s what this tournament is about.”

Harris said a variety of options will be considered when officials gather to decide what will happen long-term to the Wells Fargo Championship. Harris has said the tournament won’t be played at Quail Hollow in 2016 and 2017 so changes can be made to the course in preparation for the PGA Championship.

That doesn’t mean, however, the tournament will go away entirely. It could be moved for two years.

“You have to figure out who is going to be the sponsor of the tournament. It would be unusual for it not to involve a lot of the same people who are here,” Harris said.

“There’s been a great deal of discussion, not so much between us and the PGA but other people interested in golf about where you might play and keeping it in North Carolina.

“We’ll certainly have some discussions about some of the local courses here. You also have a wonderful opportunity to go to the best golf course in North Carolina. I think we could go to (Pinehurst owner) Bob Dedman and those guys at Pinehurst and maybe play there. That would be a great change and you’d be absolutely assured of a great field. That might be an alternative.

“You don’t want to go into anybody else’s backyard. I don’t think it would negatively affect Bobby Long’s tournament in Greensboro and we don’t want to do anything that affects the Heritage. In fact, we want to help everybody.”