Could the PGA play here?

Those golf-watching die hards among us have a chance this weekend to see up-and-coming golfers, a few PGA stars with Midwest ties, and older pros seeking one final Tour victory compete in the John Deere Classic.

The JDC may not move the needle much for the average sports fan — or even the average golf fan — but as you watch golfers shoot in the 60s amid the heat and humidity of Silvis, Ill., consider this thought:

If the Quad-Cities region along the Mississippi River can host a PGA event, why can’t the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area?

THE SIMILARITIES abound between the Quad-Cities — a half-million population “metro area” that straddles the Iowa-Illinois border — and the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area, which has roughly the same amount of people.

Both areas skew older in age demographics, with plenty of empty-nesters and retirees who are ready and willing to both attend and volunteer for a big-time golf tournament.

Both regions have relatively good summer weather for golf, plenty of hotels and restaurants, and large enough regional airports to bring in the players, media and fans for a PGA Tour event.

And there’s no question a PGA Tour stop would be a major economic boon for our region.

A 2015 study by Western Illinois University estimates the John Deere Classic brings $54 million to the Quad Cities each year. While economic impact may be difficult to prove, there’s no doubt the JDC has benefitted Quad-Cities charities, with the tournament raising $78.9 million in the past 20 years for hundreds of community organizations.

(By the way, can any readers name the four “Quad-Cities” that line the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois? Answer at the end of this column. Hint: Two of them have the same name as cities in Washington.)

SO WHAT’S preventing the Inland Northwest from welcoming a PGA event? Probably three things: a sponsor, a suitable golf course and an opening on the Tour’s ever-changing schedule.

The Quad-Cities Open was held, under various names and sponsors, from 1971 to 1998. Its relatively remote locale and usual date immediately before, after or the same weekend as the British Open kept the prize purses relatively small and the field limited in its star power. Some years, official host Ed McMahon (of “Tonight Show” fame) was the best-known person at the course.

Then John Deere stepped in as tournament sponsor, signing a multi-faceted agreement with the PGA Tour in the late 1990s.

This deal — recently extended through 2023 — made the Quad-Cities-based agriculture equipment company the official supplier of golf and turf equipment to maintain the 20-plus courses in the Tour’s TPC network. The company also provided the land so the world-class TPC at Deere Run course could be built (helping design it was three-time Q-C Open champion D.A. Weibring).

HERE IN the Inland Empire, we have several large companies and corporations that, in theory, could benefit from sponsoring a PGA Tour event, but they don’t have the lawn-care equipment connection of John Deere.

We also have several challenging golf courses, including the Idaho Club in Bonner County, Circling Raven here in Kootenai County and Indian Canyon in Spokane.

But are any of those courses at a high enough level to challenge the world’s best golfers? I’ll leave that question to those with handicaps under 20 ...

Anyway, the trickiest issue is the PGA Tour’s schedule, which recently was revamped for 2019 and beyond.

The John Deere Classic kept its slot in mid-July, just before the British Open, but other large markets such as Houston and Washington, D.C., lost their events. With the Tour anxious to host events in Asia and Latin America, the closest any PGA tournament gets to the Pacific Northwest is the annual pro-am in Pebble Beach.

While Spokane and Coeur d’Alene can go toe-to-toe (or exceed) the Quad-Cities in terms of infrastructure, economic might and tourism, the stars would have to perfectly align for a “secondary market” like ours to host a PGA Tour event. Frankly, the Quad-Cities wouldn’t get one if they tried today — their history with the much-smaller PGA Tour in the 1970s and the John Deere connection made it happen for them.

Just like on the golf course, sometimes it takes timing, the right conditions and a little luck to obtain that perfect result.

Joel Donofrio is a copy editor and sports reporter for The Press who formerly lived and worked in the Quad-Cities, where he covered and attended the John Deere Classic. The four cities giving the region its name are Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Ill.