As players from St. Mary’s and Pepperdine celebrated their West Coast Conference team championships Wednesday, the staff at San Juan Oaks Golf Club were in the middle of a celebration themselves.
For the second year in a row — and for the second time in the course’s history — San Juan Oaks played host to a collegiate championship tournament, giving the course publicity as it aims to stay on the amateur and Professional Golf Association’s radar entering 2013.
And if the members of the WCC have any say, the course will stay there for some time.
“Our coaches love this course, having played here last year,” said Jeff Tourial, WCC director of communications and new media. “We allow our coaches to have a big say on where our tournament is held each year, and after being here last year, they were fairly adamant about coming back.”
He continued: “They love the layout of the course. They think it is very fair and plays well. And — this is me speaking not the coaches — but my gosh it’s beautiful here.”
That type of golfing surface — and beauty — is exactly why San Juan Oaks has become a hot spot for amateur golfers and mid-level professional tournaments. Thanks to the PGA Tour, which returned to San Juan Oaks in 2007 after a three-year absence, the popularity of the course — that rests just outside Hollister — is at an all-time high.
The golf course now holds between 15-20 professional, collegiate or semi-professional events per year. And it continues to grow, said Manny Freitas, director of golf.
“We’ve held more events every year in each of the past five years,” he said.
Events like this week’s collegiate tournament should only bring more people to the course, Freitas said.
“It brings regional and national recognition to San Juan Oaks,” Freitas said. “Hopefully, they will go on to regional tournaments and, maybe, they will compete nationally and go for a national title. This is a stepping stone for them. It puts San Juan Oaks into a group of only a few golf courses across the country. So that’s one thing. It brings other players to the golf course that may have never been exposed to it.”
Since the Fred Couples-designed course’s inception in 1996, it has seen a steady increase of tournament interest starting with the PGA in 2001. Since then, the course has held the qualifying tournament for the Frys.com Open, the PGA Q School for 10 years and Northern California Golf Association tournaments each year.
This year, the course will have 20 regional and national tournaments — a course high.
“The facility speaks for itself,” said Freitas. “We have a nice practice facility to host an event like this. It’s 10 acres of all grass tees and the clubhouse. We can host their events and their dinners. The parking lot is big enough for the players. The golf course is PGA Tour caliber and in championship condition. You aren’t going to find that at a public golf course anywhere around here.”
Complaints are hard to come by for the course.
“The PGA Tour doesn’t get any complaints,” Freitas said. “They (the WCC) aren’t going to get any complaints. They don’t get complaints because from that point of view, they love the course. The golf course itself is what sells and San Juan Oaks.”
That’s exactly why the WCC returned despite poor weather last year, Tourial said.
“The coaches loved the way it played,” Tourial said. “They love the way it is laid out, even though it’s quite challenging. The men’s and women’s coaches loved the course. It’s well maintained and the location is easy enough for everybody to get to. It’s relatively centrally located in our membership.”
He continued: “Last year, we were here and it was dry and overcast and chilly. Of course, last week was wet, but it’s been picture perfect. It’s as good as it can get.”
With the success of the WCC tournaments, Freitas hopes the course can hold more collegiate level tournaments soon.
“We just want to continue to make San Juan Oaks attractive as possible and to keep bringing events to the area,” Freitas said. “We want to keep on getting people to come down here and see what San Benito County has to offer. Hopefully, in the future when we develop San Juan Oaks, people will call this a great piece of property out here.”
The course will hold qualifying tournaments for the PGA’s Frys.com Open in September and the Reno-Tahoe Open in June.
