PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- The Valspar championship ended Sunday. This year was the first time Tiger Woods appeared in the tournament in Palm Harbor and he attracted a large crowd.
There was a lot of buzz surrounding the golfer.
“He’s just a phenomenon I guess,” Scott Baker of Lake Placid said.
Many golf fans wanted to see him play. Some fans may have found it a little bit distracting.
“It’s hard to watch Tiger. There’s just too many people where the other guys it’s easy to watch, you know. It’s enjoyable to watch them,” Baker said.
The tournament director told ABC Action News the tournament generates more than $50 million of an economic impact into the area. Nearby businesses did not mind the extra business.
“There’s a definite economic boom. We’re seeing it. We’re feeling it. You know….it’s definitely helping all the local businesses down here in the area,” Rob Trabulsi, co-owner of Fins in Old Palm Harbor said.
Fins opened about three months ago.
“All these things help out the entire community as far as I’m concerned,” Trabulsi said.
Businesses in Tarpon Springs saw golf fans too.
“Every time any kind of event is going on being from the Valspar, which does wonderful things for the Tampa Bay community… also with the St. Pete Grand Prix and it’s just things that are constantly going on… even with the Strawberry Festival it brings people to the area,” Emmanuel Psomas said.
Psomas is the general manager at Hellas Restaurant and Bakery in Tarpon Springs. He said sometimes it is hard to tell exactly what draws people there way. He said the restaurant is usually busy and they like it that way.
“It’s hard to tell because you do have spring break going on… you know… so that brings a lot of people down also but at the same time the other events bring the other people down so you can’t pinpoint it to one certain event,” Psomas said.
