Hartman: 2016 Ryder Cup chairman says event is bigger than Super Bowl

Patrick Hunt, the chairman of the 2016 Ryder Cup, scheduled to run from Sept. 27 to Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, said the once-every-two-years tournament between the Americans and Europeans is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest sporting event Minnesota has ever seen.

Nearly 100,000 people have registered for the ticket lottery, with an estimated 45,000 daily tickets available to the public, Hunt said.

"The number of volunteers we'll need is 4,500, and … 11-12,000 people have registered for information about volunteering for those 4,500 spots," Hunt said. "We have had people registered for information about getting tickets, about the lottery, which will happen this summer. We've had almost 100,000 people registering for that.

"The lottery will be this summer, it will be open to everyone, people will need to register for the lottery [at the Ryder Cup's website]. So when they register for information, that will enable them to get a reminder e-mail to sign up for the lottery."

Hunt broke down the reasons for the enormous interest the event is drawing.

"The Ryder Cup happens every two years, but it alternates between the Euro side and the U.S. side, so we only get it every four years," he said. "That's one of the reasons it's so popular, one of the many reasons it's so popular. I would argue it will be the largest sporting event we've ever had in this state, even exceeding the Super Bowl.

"The reason is the Super Bowl has an event, there's events around it, but it's one game with 60,000-70,000-80,000 people; we'll have probably a quarter-million people on the golf course throughout the course of our week. It's much more international in flavor. Of the quarter-million people that are there, probably 20 percent or more will be from outside the United States. Probably 60-65 percent will be outside the state of Minnesota, a lot of visitors, a lot of excitement."

Hazeltine has played host to four major championships on the PGA Tour, with the most recent being the PGA Championship in 2009, and has hosted nine major tournaments between the PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour. But Hunt said the course has continued to evolve and grow because of competition from other courses.

He described what changes had to be made for the Ryder Cup.

"We've spent probably almost $13 million since 2009," he said. "The reason being we have a mission at Hazeltine, it started in 1962, a mission to host major championships. Now it has moved up to international events like the Ryder Cup. In order to be competitive we have to have the best conditions. We have to have a golf course with the appropriate design, which means it has to evolve. We have to have a golf course that is long enough. We have to have the appropriate practice facilities. We have to have the appropriate clubhouse facilities. We have to have the right bunkers, greens, etcetera.

"So we, as a membership, have to invest in the course in order to appeal and get into other championships with the USGA and the PGA. So how we fund that typically is through these events, and sometimes you know like a U.S. Amateur, we're really funding that event, too. Sometimes we have opportunities to reinvest."

Hunt said that just investing in new bunkers cost roughly $1 million, invested by around 300 people. Other improvements also can come from loans. The hope is that with a good showing at the Ryder Cup, Hazeltine will continue to draw opportunities for more major tournaments after 2016.

"Instead of 1-18 in order, the reason to reroute is a better fan experience, more excitement in the closing holes, better egress for fans to get off the golf course later in the day," Hunt said.

"We're not [playing like that] yet. We won't until that year. We might try it out a little bit in 2016 with members, but it will only be played that way for the Ryder Cup. The routing will be 1-2-3-4, move over to 14-15-16-17-18 as the front side, then the back side will be 10-11-12-13-5-6-7-8-9."

Hunt said that order should increase the dramatic arc of the event since the final three holes will be more interesting: "So the closing holes, the three closing holes, will be a reachable par-5 with water left of the green, then certainly our most challenging our hole — certainly our most challenging par-3, but oftentimes our most difficult hole in majors, which is No. 8, that will be 17, and then we'll close on No. 9."

Neither captain has been named. An 11-member task force that includes, among others, Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods has been created to search for a U.S. captain. Fred Couples reportedly is a popular choice among players for the job.

It's believed Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke is the favorite to be named the European captain.

• Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders was asked to compare the style of play of rookie Andrew Wiggins and former Wolves star Kevin Love, dealt to Cleveland for the No. 1 overall pick: "They're different players. The thing [Wiggins] can do different than Kevin is that most of the good teams have a player they can give them the ball and they can create their own shot, they're not dependent on somebody else to create a shot for them. They can either get to the basket, get fouled, make perimeter shots, or get an opportunity and get something in the open floor. That is the new game and how it's evolving in the NBA."

• Kate Johnson, the daughter-in-law of Ron Johnson, e-mailed to say that one of his grandsons, Levi, traveled from China for the funeral after the Gophers basketball great from New Prague died last week at age 76. Levi and his brother, Gabe, sat in Ron Johnson's seats in Section 213 at Williams Arena for the Gophers' 62-58 victory over Purdue on Saturday, and Ron Johnson's son Phil and granddaughter Maddie also attended.

• Gophers pitching coach Todd Oakes is recovering at home after his second bout of acute myeloid leukemia. He spent three weeks in the hospital in December after first being diagnosed in 2012. While he is recovering, former Gophers pitcher Scott Matyas is serving as pitching coach. The Gophers baseball teams opens the season Feb. 13 at Houston.