Consistency, Shriners can make PGA event ‘crazy’

I need to get more Hollywood.

I'm way behind on the lingo.

Justin Timberlake, for instance, uses the word "crazy" a lot. It's in lyrics to his songs. It's how he described his hopes for a first celebrity Pro-Am event last year to the local PGA Tour event that bears his name, as in, "I really didn't have a crazy expectation as to who might show up," which is a good thing when you consider the B-listers who did.

It's also how, via Webcast from New York on Tuesday, the SexyBack one voiced his enthusiasm for this year's tournament: "I'm crazy excited."

Crazy. It must be a pre-30s thing.

Here's what those trying to annually grow the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open need to recognize: Crazy isn't needed. Consistency is.

There is a ceiling for success when your tournament falls within the dreaded Fall Series. You are what you are: An event that falls after Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have embarked on offseason vacations. And it is on those in charge to create interest for those beyond the golf fanatic who can tell you the dress code at Kenny Perry's Country Creek Golf Course in Kentucky requires a shirt and shoes, and sometimes just a shirt.

Adam Sperling seems to get all this.

We will see if his words amount to results.

The third tournament director in three years for the PGA Tour event that will take place Oct. 15 to 18 at TPC Summerlin is 27 and, on first impressions, quite impressive.

He was formerly the operations manager for PGA Tour, Inc., and director of operations for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He admittedly doesn't play enough to maintain a handicap, which isn't a terrible thing given his challenge is to make certain there are sufficient crowds outside the ropes, and not being worried about his game inside them.

"I can assure you that no one has more interest in there being continuity with this tournament than I do," Sperling said. "It doesn't happen overnight. You need consistency in staffing year-to-year to elevate the event where we want it to be. I think we have the right pieces in place."

Here is what they have that outweighs everything: A beneficiary that is unequaled in its worthiness.

You need to know that it is impossible to write, talk, praise or promote Shriners Hospitals for Children enough. You need to understand that within those 22 facilities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, miracles are performed daily on damaged and burnt children for no charge.

Would it be nice if, on Oct. 14, Timberlake's worldwide fame produces a far better field for the Pro-Am portion of this event than it did last year, when I wasn't far off in ranking the top three celebrities as Timberlake, Ellen DeGeneres and Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy? Yes.

Would it be a more enticing tournament to attend if those competing in golf included as many household names as those performing in Timberlake's benefit concert Oct. 17 at Mandalay Bay? Definitely.

But it's more important for something like the "Team Smile" program on Tuesday of tournament week to succeed, for nearly 150 underserved children, many who don't own a toothbrush, to receive free dental care and be exposed to golf.

Here's the thing: You can offer youth and military clinics and a woman's seminar and jazz up the already posh "Hill," a 22,000-square foot entertainment pavilion overlooking holes 16, 17 and 18. You can add bigger televisions so fans can watch the NFL on Sunday out of one eye and golf out of the other.

But if you are Adam Sperling and those he oversees today, you need to hope that in tough times, Las Vegas truly appreciates not just having a PGA Tour event, but, more important, those it benefits.

The sick and damaged and burnt children.

It should be enough.

It hasn't been to the heights one would wish, and that is disappointing.

"I think it's really important we have a PGA event here," said UNLV men's golf coach Dwaine Knight, as respected a community figure as you will find anywhere. "Lot of history here. Great history. Rich history in the valley as far as golf goes ...

"If you see what those kids go through and the support the Shriners are able to give them, it's a worthwhile cause. Las Vegas is big enough to support this tournament. I think we can do it."

We should.

You know why?

Shriners Hospitals for Children ... crazy deserving.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN (720 AM) and www.infernosportsradio.com.