BY SETH SOFFIAN • ssoffiannews-press.com • May 2, 2009 “I completely understand,” said tournament director Jason Camp, adding that discussions are already taking place
to cover the 2011 tournament. “We obviously want to continue this event well into the future, but you’ve got to take one year at a time.” This week’s agreement followed Tuesday’s announcement by ACE of a 50 percent increase in net income in the first quarter, helped by growth in policy sales. ACE reported earnings of $567 million, or $1.69 a share, up from $377 million, or $1.10 a share, in the first quarter last year. “ACE had a very good first quarter,” said company chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg. Despite concerns that attendance might be hurt by the event’s move to Treviso Bay in east Naples from Quail West, which sits on the border between Lee and Collier counties, February’s tournament set single-day and week-long attendance records. First-round attendance was about 32,000, Camp said, the first time in event history that it has reached 30,000 for a day.
Saturday and Sunday attendance was less than 30,000 daily, but the weekly turnout of 112,276 was up by 8 percent over the record of 103,800 that was set in 2007, the event’s first year at Quail West.