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Today’s Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by T.R. Lawing Realty:

There will be a big golf tournament once again in May at Quail Hollow Club. But it won’t be the usual one.

Instead of the annual Wells Fargo Championship, Charlotte is getting something bigger, with twice as many players and more national and international exposure: The PGA Championship.

It is one of golf’s biggest events — one of the sport’s four major championships. It will mark a major moment for Charlotte, which will welcome back a high-profile golf tournament that was last held here in 2017.

The PGA Championship, to be held May 12-18, is expected to provide an economic boost for the region, fill 95% of the region’s hotel rooms and showcase Charlotte on an international stage.

For an inside look at how it all is coming together, Ledger editor Tony Mecia talked with tournament director Jason Soucy on a recent episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast. Soucy’s team has been working for months with the city, Quail Hollow Club and others to make the big tournament a success.

Besides the quality and number of pro golfers, Soucy said one of the main differences fans at the event will notice is that all tickets include food and non-alcoholic drinks.

“That is probably the most exciting thing for me as an operator, because that’s what no one else in the industry has been doing,” Soucy said.

(By the way, Quail Hollow’s annual PGA event, formerly known as the Wells Fargo Championship, will be back in Charlotte in 2026. With a new sponsor, it will be called the Truist Championship.)

You can check out the full discussion on The Charlotte Ledger Podcast:

Here is an excerpt, edited for space and clarity:

Q. How does one become a director of a major golf tournament?

There is really no definitive path to get to this role. There’s a whole bunch of different avenues.

The avenue that I chose was I had worked in large scale events and I had worked for the NBA and NHL in more of a sales role. So I came from the revenue side of things.

I have a competition director that worries about inside the ropes. My focus and everything that my team and I are going to be worried about is everything that happens outside the ropes. There’s a focus on revenue generation and managing expenses.

We’re going to figure out how to make sure we tap the most resources to generate the most revenue for the championship and at the same time work effectively with some of the best vendors to deliver a major championship here to Charlotte, but to do it in the most cost-effective way possible.

Q. Most people in Charlotte view golf tournaments through the lens of the Wells Fargo Championship, which is now called the Truist Championship. How is the PGA Championship different from a regular golf tournament like that?

We’re not out there recruiting players the way other events are. There are only four times a year that the best players in the world all get together and play a full field of golf.

The Wells Fargo Championship is one of the signature events now for fans and for the Charlotte public to see 70 top players on tour essentially competing on an annual basis.

It’s not quite the same as having 156 players — not just from the PGA Tour, but also the world tour. And some of the best players that are no longer playing on the tour are already qualified for the PGA Championship because of the success they’ve had in a major.

Having a full field of golf with the best players in the world is what’s going to help to immediately elevate it in someone’s mind of like, “Oh, this is something new. It’s something different. It’s not what’s there every year.”

Then, there are things like the TV partners and how people are going to consume this. It’s going to be different because our lead-in is ESPN. A typical tour event is going to be on The Golf Channel, which is a little bit more of a niche audience, and maybe a few hours on CBS. Whereas now, the way streaming has taken off, our goal is to work with ESPN, ESPN+, CBS and their streaming partners. We’re going to hopefully be showcasing not only 156 of the best players in the world, but as many shots as possible for those folks when they’re here.

Q. I know Charlotte loves having that exposure — the tourism folks, they love having those shots of the Charlotte skyline at sunset and the rolling hills and all that. It’s great exposure for the city. What’s it like working with Quail Hollow Club? Compared with some other venues, it is landlocked and there is no direction to expand into.

There’s never going to be a perfect venue. If you want the land that you kind of need to host a major championship, chances are it might be a little further away from a major metropolitan hub or a major metropolitan airport. That’s where I think Quail Hollow is so unique.

You look at the resources North Carolina has — what the USGA [U.S. Golf Association] is doing with Pinehurst. That’s amazing, going to the U.S. Open there, seeing the space they have. That is a fantastic venue to host a major championship.

I think Charlotte gets to put its best foot forward more so than a lot of other markets. A lot of times, if you’re going into a market, they just don’t have the resources that are going to be equivalent to what you could find here in Charlotte.

The city, the state, the region — they really need to be appreciative that the Quail Hollow membership is open to doing something like this on an annual basis. A lot of clubs of their stature and quality would say, “Yeah, we’ll do a major maybe once every 15 to 20 years,” but to have a tour event come in and disrupt the club on an annual basis, that’s no small concession from their standpoint.

Q. Does [Quail Hollow president] Johnny Harris have opinions on things, or does the club pretty much say, “Hey, you guys are the pros, go to it”?

Every time we’re hosting a championship, we’re going to do it in partnership with the host club and the host site. We have a lot of things that we do and our vendors and our team do effectively, but we would be very short-sighted if we didn’t look at those folks that are here day in, day out.

Sometimes, there might be some things that someone wants — Mr. Harris or Johno Harris, our general chair for the event, they might make a suggestion that we just can’t execute because of our full field event with a major championship.

Q. I want to talk a little bit about the fan experience. What are some of the things that fans expect, and what are you able to deliver to them that is something different and something new?

One of the things that’s unique for the PGA Championship is that for the last few years, we’ve made all of our general tickets a food-inclusive ticket. People go, “Oh wow, that’s cool! It’s a loaded ticket. I get free food.” That is probably the most exciting thing for me as an operator, because that’s what no one else in the industry has been doing.

It really is about improving the overall experience for everyone and really making sure that this hopefully is a bucket list day for a lot of people to be able to say, “Oh, I came out and I watched the best players in the world compete.”

And if we get lucky enough to have the kind of competition like we had in 2017, when Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship with an incredible shot — making birdie on the 17th hole at the Green Mile — I can only hope that we have that kind of drama again.

Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:

One of the three U.S. Army soldiers who were killed Wednesday when a military helicopter collided with a passenger plane in Washington, D.C., was identified over the weekend as North Carolina native and UNC Chapel Hill graduate Capt. Rebecca Lobach.

Lobach, 28, was a native of Durham and enlisted in the N.C. National Guard while in college in 2018, a friend told CBS news.

Lobach had served as an aviation officer in the Army since July 2019, the Army told CBS news. In a statement released through the Army, her family described her as a “bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong.” Lobach’s family initially asked the Army to keep her identity private, but agreed Saturday to release her name.

The Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 had taken off from nearby Fort Belvoir in Virginia and was on a routine training mission at the time of the collision, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

All 60 passengers aboard the airplane and the four Charlotte-based crew members died in the crash. The three people aboard the helicopter also died. —Cristina Bolling

Related Ledger article: “Charlotte’s close ties to Wednesday’s fatal plane crash” (Jan. 31, 2025)

The Town of Pineville’s fitness court opened last summer at Lake Park. The park already had a high number of users, and town leaders thought the gym “would be another attraction to the park and to promote health and fitness,” said Riley George, the town’s communications specialist. (Ledger file photo)

They’re getting to be a familiar sight in and around the Charlotte area — bright blue outdoor fitness facilities at local parks and schools that are open to the public.

The gyms, called “fitness courts,” are built by the San Francisco-based National Fitness Campaign, a company that partners with towns and schools to build outdoor gyms. The fitness courts consist of weather-resistant equipment that leverages a person’s body weight for a complete workout.

National Fitness Campaign helps towns shore up grants to finance a portion of the construction of the gyms, making them attractive for town leaders who want to add a fitness amenity to their communities without a high cost. The fitness courts typically cost around $150,000 to 170,000 before the grants.

After the fitness court is built, park and recreation departments are responsible for the court’s maintenance and upkeep.

The Washington Post wrote about the company in 2019 and its quest to put the gyms in towns and schools nationwide. National Fitness Campaign was founded in 1979 and announced last year that it had installed 500 gyms across the country.

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, which debuted the area’s first fitness court in 2020 at Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte, partnered with Lowe’s, Carolina Panthers and Veterans Bridge Home to fund the gym with veterans in mind.

In 2021, the town of Indian Trail received a $25,000 grant from the National Fitness Campaign to fund the outdoor gym at Chestnut Square Park. Pineville’s fitness court, which opened last summer at Lake Park, was funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In Charlotte’s South Carolina suburbs, the Town of York and York School District One have installed fitness courts.

Matthews could be the next Charlotte-area town with a fitness court. The town’s board of commissioners has talked about adding a National Fitness Court at Purser Hulsey Park, town communication officer Maureen Ryan told The Ledger, and the town is exploring grants and sponsorship options to help fund the court. —Lindsey Banks

After nearly a month of radio silence from Lovin’ Life Music Fest’s social media accounts, followers have been growing restless for the festival’s second round of artist announcements. But during Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, Lovin’ Life dropped some hints on its Instagram account about who might be taking the stage in May.

In November, Lovin’ Life announced that Gwen Stefani and Dave Matthews Band would headline the festival, and Benson Boone would also be performing. Tickets went on sale Nov. 19.

On Friday, Lovin’ Life told fans to watch its Instagram account during the Grammys for hints about this spring’s lineup, and on Sunday night it shared a list of the nominees for Best New Artists on its Instagram Story with the caption “We see some of our ‘Loves’ right here!”

The list included Boone (who had already been confirmed) Chappell Roan, who won the Grammy for Best New Artist, Sabrina Carpenter, Shaboozey, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye and Teddy Swims. (Surely not all of those artists will show up in Charlotte — Lovin’ Life didn’t hint at how many might be coming to the festival.)

In what seemed to be the strongest hint of the night, Lovin’ Life also reshared a post from the Recording Academy of R&B performer Teddy Swim’s Grammy performance with the caption “He was too good not to repost! 👑” and reshared a post from a fan saying they were “manifesting” Teddy Swims for Lovin’ Life. (Swims’ biggest radio hit is “Lose Control.”)

Lovin’ Life’s most recent Instagram post says the next round of performers will be announced sometime this week.

Fans are not hiding their feelings about the wait, commenting things like “The lineup better be f****** BOMB after ignoring us for weeks and weeks”, “Oh thank god” and “THEYRE AWAKE.”

Last year, Post Malone, Stevie Nicks and Noah Kahan headlined Lovin’ Life Music Fest, which brought 25,000 fans to uptown Charlotte in May. This year, the festival will be held May 2-4 — which is also the weekend of another big concert: rapper Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Grand National Tour comes to Charlotte May 3 at Bank of America Stadium. —Lindsey Banks

Related Ledger articles:

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is rolling out new initiatives aimed at ramping up the use of video surveillance to catch criminals and spot crime while it’s happening.

Businesses have the option to buy a special device from a company called Fusus and pay a yearly fee to give CMPD real-time access to cameras of the business’ choosing. Then, police could monitor the camera feeds in real time from a CMPD facility in the event of an emergency.

“If there was a critical incident in a school, in a place of worship, or in a business, it would allow us to have real-time access to that,” Capt. Michael Smith told a gathering of several dozen people Saturday during a town hall meeting at St. Matthew Catholic Church hosted by City Councilman Ed Driggs.

Residential program: Another program called Connect Charlotte invites residents to register the locations of their security cameras with CMPD, so that if an incident occurs in the vicinity of the cameras, CMPD can reach out to request video footage from cameras in the area.

CMPD wouldn’t be able to monitor the cameras, but would rely on residents to voluntarily send in footage if there is an incident in the area.

“For example, if there are car break-ins in your neighborhood and we pull a map and we see within a quarter-mile of the car break-ins there are four different neighbors who have cameras registered with CMPD, we would send a blanket email saying, ‘Hey, there were car break-ins in your neighborhood during this time frame. Please check your cameras and if you have any video evidence that might be related, feel free to email it to us,’” Smith said. —Cristina Bolling

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

• FEB. 7: Family Workshop: DIY Valentine, 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Arts+ Community Campus, 2304 The Plaza, Charlotte. Join Arts+ for a fun evening with activities for the whole family to enjoy including creating handmade valentines cards, making silly poems, and singing songs all about love! $10 for children 3-12; free for adults and children 2 and under.

• MARCH 8: Run Jen Run 5K & Festival, 7-10 a.m. at Symphony Park, 4400 Sharon Road, Charlotte. Join Go Jen Go for its 13th Annual Run Jen Run 5K and Festival. Following the 5K and Fun Run, enjoy live music, food vendors, beverages, an expo area, family fun zone. Price varies for kids and adults.

• MARCH 13: Charlotte Industrial & Logistics Summit, 8-11 a.m. at Charlotte Marriott City Center, 100 West Trade St., Charlotte. Understanding the drivers, deals and demands dominating new investment and development opportunities in and around Mecklenburg County. $130.

➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.

• Game-fixing investigation: Federal prosecutors are investigating NBA guard Terry Rozier for potential involvement in an illegal sports betting scheme while he was a player with the Charlotte Hornets. The probe centers on a March 2023 game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans, during which Rozier left early due to a foot injury after scoring five points. Unusual betting activity was detected, with significant wagers placed against Rozier’s expected performance. The NBA said its internal investigation found no violations of league rules, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is continuing to examine the case. Rozier has not been charged. (Sports Illustrated)

• Airport vigil: Dozens of air crew members gathered Sunday for a vigil at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to honor the lives lost in last Wednesday’s crash between an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army helicopter. All four crew members aboard the airplane were based in Charlotte, and one passenger from Charlotte was on board. (WCNC)

• Throwing groundhog shade: Tater the Groundhog — North Carolina’s answer to Punxsutawney Phil — predicted an early spring at Chimney Rock’s annual Groundhog Day celebration Sunday. Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter on Sunday, but leaders of the Chimney Rock event boasted that Chimney Rock groundhogs have been accurate 60% of the time in their 20-year tradition, while Punxsutawney Phil has had 30% accuracy, they said. Tater also predicted Sunday that the Kansas City Chiefs would win the Super Bowl. (WLOS)

• February’s warm debut: Speaking of weather, meteorologists say temperatures will soar into the 60s and 70s this week. Today’s high will be in the mid to upper 60s, and temperatures on Tuesday could come close to the day’s record high of 76 degrees. (WBTV)

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