Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give

This weekend is the 11th Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. We are joined by Tournament Director Cathy Cooper to discuss the amazing things this tournament has done for our community. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Round one of the Meyer LPGA Classic for Simply Give
is underway. This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly
and Laurence Smith here at seventy seven Monroe Center, but
out at Blyfield Country Club for the big event is
Brett Pakita and we are joined by the executive tournament Director,
Kathy Cooper. Thank you, Kathy so much for doing this today.

(00:22):
This thing gets bigger and better every year. This is
a simple question. How do you do it?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
You know what a lot of vision, a lack of complacency,
and a great team.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, and you look at it, Kathy.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
There's always something new and innovative that you guys bring
to the tournament. You go back to Discoveryland back of
the day, now J Brewers and now tell us about
the Craft Heines Pavilion. I know you're excited about.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, well, you know what, Kraft Heins Pavilion is new
and it's on seventeen Green and eighteen t It's a
beautiful view. You could literally walk from one side of
it to the other and see players on both sides.
And we think, we know it's a real hit already
with people that have come out here. But it's a

(01:09):
you know, you get in for forty dollars. We are
sold out this year unless we find that capacity is
less than we think, and we'll have some at the door,
but free food in there and beverage and all of that.
So it's another form of hospitality. But this has amazing views.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Congratulations over twelve million dollars raised over ten years. This
is year eleven. And I said, the smile on your
face because of what you've seen and the impact you've
had for food pantries across the Midwest, not just hearing
the West Miskan. But it's more than just even that tournament.
I know there's a couple of things that have happened
this weekend that you want to talk about too, that
people can get involved with.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
There's touch points all across this tournament.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh there are, and you know we have everything from
Discovery Land that's back again, Jay Brewers is opening tomorrow
Jay Brewers and Frederick's and we've actually expanded that thirty
five thousand square feet food, beverage and hospitality. But the
cool thing is we change the layout a bit and
we've extended it so there's a huge covered front viewing

(02:12):
area with seating and food and all of that. It's
beautiful out there. We've had a few events out there
already this week. But we've got the Red Bull team
that's coming in to jump on Friday or on Saturday
at the end of play, probably right around six o'clock.
They will jump on eighteen and four fair away and

(02:32):
they are always just a ball to watch, you know.
We look for that plane coming in and then you
start to see these jumpers coming through the clouds and
the sky and it's a ball. We've got the five
k family Walk and run on Saturday over at Rockford
High School. You can still sign up my r lpgaclassic
dot com. That has continued to be an amazing morning.

(02:56):
You can come as a family, you can come as
a team, you can come as an individual. You can
walk it, you can run it. The best part is
we've got breakfast from W. K. Kellogg and Kelenova afterwards,
and lots of stuff going on there.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
What have you heard from your brands?

Speaker 4 (03:13):
I mean when you go here, you can't just you know, help,
but see on the boards and everything else, the different
brands that Meyer brings in. It really has become a
food event as well as a golf event, which Steve
Kelly can hear him kind of growing in the background.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
He loves that.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
But what reaction have you gotten. I mean, they've got
to be just amazed at what this tournament's become.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
We you know, we've spent a lot of time together
this week, all of our sponsors, between pro ams and
sponsor events and things like that, we have had amazing,
amazing comments saying this is just wonderful. It's the best
tournament on tour. I'm going to go back to Casey

(03:50):
from LPGA. Casey he is a media person at LPGA,
and he came here for media day and he looked
at us and he actually said it in media day.
He said, this is the north star for the LPGA Wow,
which says a lot. Yeah, Casey is a dear friend
of ours, but he sees everything on the tour, so

(04:10):
it really meant a lot coming from him.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
And I've been talking about how Blackfield Country Club just
continues to improve. They're great partners for you and Smitty.
I'm going to tell you this right now because I
know you're gonna be out here a lot this weekend.
You won't miss finding Kathy Cooper. Look for the biggest
smile at the tournament, and then make sure you connect
with her.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh we just love Kathy and all the works she
puts in for this. I heard you this morning. I
heard you're going to be out here. Can't wait to
see you.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Oh yes, it's the best.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
It's the tournament director, Executive director the Meyer LPGA Classic
per Simply give Kathy Cooper thank you for your time
this morning. Wood Radio News Time