Flooding in the park were cars were to be parked for the Principal Charity Classic golf tournament forced organizers to do a little moving around. Tournament marketing director, Tracy Dirks, says spectators and others are now parking at a nearby mall instead of Waterworks Park in Des Moines.
“It’s still a short shuttle ride over to the main enterance…there’s plenty of parking over at Southridge Mall and we’ve got a lot of shuttle buses ready to bring everybody over. So, everyting is going well so far,” Dirks says. More rain is a possibility and Dirks says spectators can bring rain gear.
She says you can bring an umbrella and even a small folding chair without the sleeve the chair goes in. Dirks says they ask that you only bring a small drawstring bag. Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the main tournament they will be checking bags and there are no cameras allowed on Saturday and Sunday.
The Pro-Am portion of the tournament is today and Dirks says so far the course is looking good. “It’s doing okay, there’s a few spots that are a little wet, but for the most part it is draining pretty well. And it’s very pretty and green still,” Dirks says.
The Wakonda Club in Des Moines is hosting the tournament this year after the Champions Tour event was moved from the Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines. It doesn’t matter where the event is held, it is still outdoors, and Dirks says they have to be prepared each year for weather and other issues.
“Obviously we would prefer to have our plan A in place, but we’ve always got plan B ready to roll out and we’ve had to implement it for a few days and we’ll see how the rest of the weekend holds out,” according to Dirks.
The opening round of the pro event begins Friday, with the title decided on Sunday.