The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE the impact of Hurricane Dorian, the partnership between bd Global Sports, the Baha Mar Resort and the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation produced an initiative to relocate a pair of events hosted by the international sports management company.

This month’s Islands of the Bahamas NCAA Basketball Showcase and the 2020 edition of The Great Abaco Classic will now be hosted at the Baha Mar Resort.

Rebranded as “The Great Abaco Classic at Baha Mar” will continue in its traditional role as the second event on the PGA Tour, January 16-22 at the Royal Blue Golf Club.

bd Global also hosts the Great Exuma Classic the week prior at Sandals Emerald Bay.

Hurricane Dorian created catastrophic damage throughout the northern Bahamas, which included the Abaco Club where the event was held the previous three years.

Brooks Downing, CEO of bdG Sports, said his organisation’s commitment to the event and its ties to the Bahamas led to finding a means for the tournament to continue and assist The Bahamas in the restoration effort. “Given that business that brought us to the Bahamas, we now have friends and colleagues in Nassau, over in Marsh Harbour, in Georgetown and elsewhere, so when that storm hit it wasn’t just some far away storm affecting some folks we may never know, this one hit close to home. It altered the opportunity to return to Abaco in January with our golf tournament. With Marsh Harbour recovering, running the 2020 Abaco Classic isn’t just another market initiative for Bahamas tourism, as well as an economic boost for the island but a chance to use this event as a tool for recovery for that once great island. As we all came to the realisation that occurred, we got together with our partners from the PGA Tour and devised a plan to continue the event in 202 yet not be a burden to tourism.

The ministry needed to focus its efforts elsewhere, we just needed a partner to help us - enter Graeme Davis and his team at Baha Mar,” Downing said, “While we are grateful for this event can continue, it’s the message we hope to continue to push that will be most important that Abaco still needs your help to rebuild and that The Bahamas and its vast island nation are open for business. Come January we will be nearly five months post-hurricane. While most have moved on to the next disaster, this event will serve to remind those that Abaco is coming back and here’s how they can help.”

bdG Sports announced plans to donate proceeds from the tournament to the relief effort in Abaco including all ticket revenue generated.

The Korn Ferry Tour tournament will feature 132 professionals vying in the year-long series to earn their PGA Tour card.

President at Baha Mar, Graeme Davis, said Baham mar continues to embrace its role as a responsible corporate citizen.

“We are thrilled to welcome these events to this great destination, Baha Mar. Our commitment to hurricane relief and helping the recovery efforts from Hurricane Dorian to the Great Island of Grand Bahama and also the Abacos is so important to us. We have committed $2million in direct relief. We have already given a cheque for $500,000 to the government and we continue to raise funds. Just last week we held a very significant event called the Baha Mar Cup where we raised over $100,000 with support from our great famous tennis player Mark Knowles,” Davis said, “This just continues to show our commitment. We saw the devastation that happened to the Abacos, Brooks and the Korn Ferry group came to me and we came together to see how we could help. We have this magnificent Jack Nicklaus signature course here at Royal Blue and we knew that in January we could make this available, putting aside our guest needs for that week and putting aside any revenue opportunity, we knew this was the right thing to do as being a good corporate citizen and working to help the relief effort as much as we can. The best thing we can do is to bring continued awareness to the Bahamas.”

The Royal Blue Golf Club at Baha Mar is the first and only Jack Nicklaus design in The Bahamas. Spanning nearly 7,200 yards, Royal Blue Golf Course’s front nine features water-lined fairways and glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean, while the back nine navigates dense jungle until the island green at the par-3 16th hole on Lake Cunningham.

As in years past, and mirroring the Great Exuma Classic, the event is played using a unique Sunday-Wednesday format, allowing for maximum exposure while also appealing to the guests who can participate on the weekend in the official pro-am, scheduled for Saturday, January 18.

“The tourism scene in the country is very dynamic. There is a whole lot going on.

The circumstances behind the scenes that brought about this event are actually quite touching. Over the past three years, the Abaco Club had successfully hosted the Great Abaco Classic which brought, over the week of the tournament, some 500 hundred guests into Abaco, giving it a tremendous boost to the economy,” Minister of Tourism and Aviation, the Hon. Dionisio D’Aguilar said,

“Under such circumstances, the organisers of such a prestigious event, would normally have written off this golf tournament, end of story. Fortunately, that did not happen. I would like to thank all stakeholders for their commitment to our destination and to our people in ensuring that the Great Abaco Classic takes place in spite of the devastation to the Bahamas, a gesture which we deeply appreciate. The Bahamas has in the PGA Tour an excellent partner in achieving a goal that we have set for ourselves as a destination. Our destination, with its natural beauty, year round sunshine, and fine resort infrastructure is ideal for sports tourism. We set ourselves a goal in becoming the sports tourism capital of the region and as you can see we are far along in achieving that goal.”

Rafael Campos won last year’s Great Abaco Classic to become the first Puerto Rican champion in Web.com Tour history. Campos closed with a 2-under 70 at The Abaco Club on Winding Bay for a one-stroke victory.

The third edition of bdG Sports’ Islands of the Bahamas Showcase was relocated from the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium to the Baha Mar Convention Centre.

The event will feature eight mid-major NCAA Division I programmes featured in 12 games November 22-24.

‘The teams have resided here at the Baha Mar resort but we played the game over at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. We have respectfully called this ‘Nassau’s tournament.’ This year, Kendal Isaacs continues to serve as a storm shelter for a number of displaced residents from Abaco and Grand Bahama, so we were in need of a gym and once again, Baha Mar has stepped up,” Downing said, “They will be able to stay and play here at this beautiful resort. A simple walk from their hotel room to the convention centre is all that it will take. They will absolutely love the resort and love the convenience. We continue to try to have a positive impact on the community, as well as the economy of the Bahamas.”

Defending Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament champion Liberty leads a field that includes George Washington from the A-10, East Carolina from the American Athletic Conference and Rice from Conference USA. The remainder of the field includes, Evansville (Missouri Valley Conference), Milwaukee (Horizon League),

Morgan State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and University of Missouri Kansas City (Western Athletic Conference).

The schedule for the opening round will feature Liberty vs. Morgan State (11am), Rice vs Milwaukee (2pm), UKMC vs George Washington (5pm) and Evansville vs East Carolina (8pm).

Consolation games will be played November 23 at 11 am and 2 pm followed by the semifinals at 5 pm and 8 pm. The championship game will be at 8 pm on November 24.

The Showcase is an event that caters to non ‘Power Five’ teams in an effort to schedule quality opponents early in the season. It traditionally creates nearly 2000 room nights, creating a significant economic impact to the country’s sports tourism product.

In its first two years, The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase included NCAA Tournament mainstays Vermont, Northern Kentucky, Iona and Montana in its fields with each of those teams making NCAA Tournament appearances since 2017.

The resort played host to the Memphis men’s basketball program in August, as it played games there on a foreign exhibition tour.

bdG Sports also raised $250,000 in funds and supplies to the Hurricane Dorian relief effort in its home city to continue its assistance to the Bahamas.

“We did a fundraiser two weeks ago in Lexington, Kentucky. It is not the biggest city in America, but it is a giving city,” Downing said, “We filled up a couple of tractor trailers that are southbound to the ports in Miami to deliver goods and building supplies as well as cash that can be used to assist.”