Rocco’s back and Tiger’s in town

Local businesses and organizations see the “Tiger bump” expected from the 2011 Frys.com Open golf tournament as a chance to parlay the sports star’s South County appearance into higher sales and more traffic through Gilroy.
Jane Howard, the executive director of the Gilroy Welcome Center, said the Open is a blessing for local businesses.
“There’s definitely a lot of buzz. They’re excited this is going on,” Howard said. “It’s so healthy for a community. I’m just hoping the weather holds out.”
Rain or shine, businesses have been bitten by the tourney bug.
Adam Sanchez, co-owner of the Milias Restaurant in downtown Gilroy, said about 15 PGA officials visited the renown steakhouse last week, likely a result of the restaurant’s stellar relationship with CordeValle.
The influx in business is just the beginning, however, Sanchez said.
“Even Tuesday seemed like Friday night here,” he said. “I can imagine it’s going to get crazy.”
When asked if he expected Tiger Woods to stop by, Sanchez said, “I hope so.”
Even if the world’s most famous golfer and company head elsewhere for dinner, Sanchez said that likely won’t dampen sales for him or other local hot spots.
“If you even take the golfers out of the picture, there’s press and TV and radio and tournament officials,” he said. “It’s going to be good for San Martin, Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Everybody should be very busy.”
John Holder, owner of The Westside Grill, is hoping lightning strikes twice for his business.
Rocco Mediate, the tournament’s defending champion, tabbed the restaurant on Santa Teresa Boulevard in Gilroy as his preferred dinner spot four nights in a row, Holder said.
“I’m hoping he brings Tiger this time,” Holder said. “We’ll have extra staff on hand. It was one of our best weeks last year and we’re hoping for the same.”
Local hotels are seeing an influx – at least in phone calls; a front desk clerk at the Best Western Forest Park Inn on Leavesley Road wouldn’t confirm early Monday evening whether her hotel had seen a jump in reservations, but did say she had seven callers on hold waiting to book rooms.
Frys.com Open organizers anticipate larger crowds at the tournament site at CordeValle Resort in San Martin, mostly due to the addition of Woods to the lineup this year. Fry’s Electronics spokesman Manuel Valerio said they are expecting an average daily attendance of 15,000. About 1,000 volunteers are helping to set up and will remain on site to control crowds throughout the tournament with the pro-am leg starting Wednesday.
The tournament itself hopes to donate about $1 million to local charities. Last year’s tournament brought about $800,000 in donations for the American Institute of Mathematics (a nonprofit organization created and funded by Fry’s Electronics CEO John Fry to support mathematical research, the American Cancer Society, the First Tee of San Jose, Special Olympics of Northern California and other charities.
“Overall the community has been receptive and supportive,” Valerio said. “This will be a fantastic signature event for Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy and Silicon Valley and beyond. We’re looking forward to another great year.”
Fry hopes to make South County the permanent home for its PGA event – though plans are for it to move to The Institute, a very private course in Morgan Hill. Business people anticipate increasingly larger crowds who will become more familiar with the food and shopping the area has to offer, and therefore keep their wallets open.
And not just the downtown businesses, hotels and restaurants are on tap to gain publicity and sales money from the tournament’s hype.
“It’s been pretty busy. We’ve been sprucing up the place,” Clos LaChance proprietor Cheryl Durzy said. Clos LaChance is CordeValle’s on-site winery and tasting room.
The sprucing comes in preparation not just for tournament attendees and, hopefully, a few famous golfers, but for patrons looking to sample the winery’s fine beverages and paired entrees – even without buying a tournament ticket.
“We are open to the public. Even if they don’t have tournament tickets, they can still come up and be a part of the buzz,” Durzy said. “We have a wine bar and we have a cafe. People can still come up here and hang out.”
Visitors can park in the Frys.com Open lot, attend the winery’s “high-end tailgate” and watch tournament action live on in-house TVs, Durzy said.
Durzy is hopeful for a good week, especially if forecasts predicting incoming showers to dissipate by Thursday hold true.
“I think it’s going to be better than last year. But the main event doesn’t start until Thursday,” she said. “I think it’ll be great: 65, 75 degrees and sunny? Perfect.”
With professional golfers Woods, Ernie Els, last year’s winner Mediate and other PGA entrants, “It should be a great week of golf,” she added.
With more mouths to feed also comes more cars on the road.
For the past two weeks, several lighted signs have flanked U.S. 101 in South County, alerting motorists of the impending four-day golf tournament and the desired exits to take to avoid gridlock through the region, said officer Jaime Rios of the California Highway Patrol, which is handling traffic issues during the tournament.
“We try to get people off the freeway as soon as possible,” Rios said. “But sometimes, it just depends. With Tiger Woods coming, I assume there will be a lot more people showing up. We’ll just see what happens.”
Rios said officers will monitor traffic increases to decide the best routes for sending people toward CordeValle. He said he wasn’t aware of any street closures coinciding with the tournament.
“Last year, it ran pretty smoothly. But this year it’s going to be a whole other story,” he said.
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GET TO the FRYS.COM OPEN
– Gates open at CordeValle in San Martin at 7 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday. First tee-off is 7:10 a.m. 
– Tickets are still available at frysopengolf.com/tickets, from $35 to $45 for a day pass, or $125 for a week pass. 
– Follow up-to-the-minute coverage from our five-person crew of sports editors and photographers all weekend online in words and photos at gilroydispatch.com; on Twitter – @theWeaveGilroy, @SJAdamsMHT and @hollistersports; and on Facebook/gilroydispatch.