www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 27, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3
Newsmakers
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Nathan Grube | Tournament Director, Travelers Championship
By Sean Teehan
steehan@hartfordbusiness.com
W
ith big names like Phil Mickelson playing
in this year's Travelers Championship,
Tournament Director Nathan Grube
is firing on all cylinders as the high-profile event's
start date approaches.
This is Grube's 15th
year heading up Travel-
ers Championship, a
weeklong tournament
that kicks off June
20, with a $7.2 million
purse. Since Grube
took over, the event has
risen in prominence in
the golf world.
Grube gravitated
toward organizing golf
tournaments after his
foray into playing the
game professionally
yielded a total of about
$200 his first year out of college. He still plays
golf occasionally, but is currently in the final
stages of putting on an annual tournament that
amounts to about 16 months of work.
Even still, Grube thinks the tournament still
has plenty of room for growth.
"I don't think we have hit our full potential,"
Grube said. "With the Travelers Championship be-
ing the only PGA TOUR event in New England this
summer, I think we are poised to bring in new fans
and show the region why this event is so unique."
What kind of attendance uptick do you expect
this year from Phil Mickelson playing?
We have seen some solid attendance growth
the last few years and we expect that to continue
with Phil's commitment. He has a unique history
with Connecticut golf fans and I expect there
to be some pretty large crowds welcoming him
back to the Travelers Championship.
Now that you landed Mickelson, have you
reached out to Tiger Woods to get him to play?
What are the challenges in landing Tiger?
We talk to every player each and every year
about playing Travelers. We are fortunate that
we have built strong relationships with them
and have received their vote as the recipient of
the Players Choice Award for the last two years.
When players are saying positive things about
our event, that resonates with other players who
have not been here and that is the best thing we
can ask for. We would
love every player to ex-
perience the Travelers
Championship at some
point, including Tiger.
A players schedule is
usually the determin-
ing factor in where
they play and we can't
control that. We try to
focus on what we can
control and make the
event the best it can be
for whoever is in our
field each year.
The Travelers Cham-
pionship has a lot of big names this year and has
been attracting an increasing number of high-
profile players over the past few years. How have
you accomplished that?
Andy Bessette, chief administrative officer at
Travelers Cos., and I have spent a lot of time build-
ing relationships with the players, their families,
their caddies, agents, trainers … everyone. We talk
to them about how we can make the event better
and then we try to deliver on the things they want.
When they see us making changes, I think
that resonates with them and that translates
into them being comfortable coming here. The
players also love the crowds and energy that our
event has. They comment on it all the time that
they love playing in front of our crowds.
Has there been any consideration of moving the
date of the Travelers Championship so that it's
not so close to the U.S. Open?
We love our date. It has become a kick-off to
summer and the fans and players have come to
identify us in this spot. We have looked at other
options over the years but given all the factors
with the schedule, we like where we are.
Nathan Grube
PHOTO
|
HBJ
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