- Houston Astros' owner Jim Crane (Photo Credit: Andrew Schneider/Houston Public Media)
- Giles Kibbe, general counsel of Houston Astros and president of the Astros Golf Foundation (Photo Credit: Andrew Schneider/Houston Public Media)
Work will begin tomorrow to renovate the Memorial Park Golf Course, after Houston City Council approved a deal that will bring the PGA Tour's Houston Open to the park by 2020.
The Astros Golf Foundation, a non-profit set up by Astros owner Jim Crane, will pay $13.5 million to redevelop the course. And Crane said it's a bargain.
"We'll be able to raise a lot of funds for the city through the golf tournament that will go to charity in Houston, and also, you know, there'll be about $90 million in revenue that comes into the city with the tournament being held downtown," he said.
Starting Thursday morning, workers will begin scraping the existing grass off the golf course and constructing earthworks. The renovations should be finished by the end of October, according to Astros Golf Foundation president Giles Kibbe
"We have an agreement with the city that we're going to open it up November 1," Kibbe said. "We also have to have it in place in condition for a year before we host the PGA Tour event."
The foundation will pay a $1 million annual fee to use the course for the Houston Open. Of the total, $250,000 will go to the Memorial Park Conservancy, while $750,000 will go to the City of Houston. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he will recommend the city's portion go to fund the upkeep of Houston's other parks.
