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Harding Talks Begin Anew
Pat Sullivan
Sunday, February 11, 2001
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

CITY HALL has teed off in a new round of negotiations aimed at completing a deal to upgrade Harding Park and eventually bring a PGA Tour event to the shores of Lake Merced.

Jaci Fong, director of property management, and other city officials last week held an initial meeting with Kemper Sports Management of Chicago, the No. 2 choice for the project during last year's bidding process, and now both sides are studying their notes in preparation for a more substantial sit-down sometime in the near future.

"We're still on track to have the Tour Championship in 2003," spokeswoman Becky Ballinger said. "We're on the verge of having something concrete to announce."

The Harding Park deal was thrown into disarray last month when Arnold Palmer Golf Management, citing concerns about being able to recoup an investment of some $15 million, backed out of the deal, which would have upgraded the course, established a First Tee youth program and secured the Tour Championship every three years, beginning in the fall of 2003.

While a new deal is being struck and approved, Harding Park is expected to remain open for at least six months. Reconstruction and re-seeding would take at least 18 months.

Meanwhile, Mayor Willie Brown is said to have been taken aback by the collapse of the deal with Palmer Management and, not wanting to get bushwhacked again, is now reluctant to hand so much financial control of the project to the successor bidder and may suggest that the city finance part of the project through a revenue bond.

In another wrinkle to the Harding saga, Palmer Management also gave 30-day notice on Feb. 1 that it would no longer operate the pro shops at Harding, Lincoln Park and Golden Gate Park, leaving the city in search of an interim solution to that problem, too.

As announced previously, the San Francisco City Championships, which have drawn more than 1,000 players in recent years, will be contested next month in scaled-down form -- championship flights only -- at Lincoln Park, Ballinger said.
 

©2001 San Francisco Chronicle