Westfield looking to capitalize on LIV Golf spotlight

Scott Willis was sitting at a table earlier this summer in London when he realized the type of exposure Westfield could receive when LIV Golf comes to town next week.

Willis, the city’s first-term mayor, was on an overseas trip to talk with representatives of an artificial intelligence sports technology company about why they should commit to a new district under development at Grand Park Sports Campus. At one point, someone at the table said he had heard of Westfield and asked, “Isn’t that where LIV’s coming?”

“We’re halfway across the globe, and people know that LIV is coming into our area, and that’s a game-changer,” Willis said. “I don’t know how much money we would have to spend as a city to get that kind of name recognition, but I’m guessing it’s in the millions, not the thousands.”

The London-based golf tour that is financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will bring 54 of the world’s top men’s golfers, including Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson, to The Club at Chatham Hills for the three-day LIV Golf Indianapolis Aug. 15-17. The tournament will have a purse of $25 million and be broadcast on WXIN-TV Channel 59 and Fox Sports 1.

Westfield is one of six U.S. cities on LIV’s 2025 schedule, along with Miami and suburbs of Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and Washington, D.C. The tour’s schedule also has international stops in Australia, England, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and Spain.

“I think it’s a big step for [Westfield],” said Steve Henke, owner of Zionsville-based Henke Development Group, which developed the Chatham Hills golf course community and Grand Park. “Westfield is developing into a sports community.”

The deal for LIV Indianapolis is a one-year contract between the tour and Henke. LIV has a single-year renewal option for 2026, and Willis said he expects the tournament to return next year.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 fans are expected to attend the tournament each day at Chatham Hills. LIV’s tournament in June in suburban Dallas drew more than 50,000 fans for the three-day event, including a U.S. single-day record of more than 20,000 for the Saturday round, according to the tour.

As of early August, tickets for LIV Indianapolis have been sold to people in 37 states and six countries, but most spectators are expected to travel from around Indiana and surrounding states. Westfield and Hamilton County officials estimate that the event will generate $20 million to $35 million for the Indianapolis area.

“They’ll pull, certainly, from all over the country, but predominantly, they’ll pull Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee to this tournament,” Henke said. “They like the fact of how many cities are within four or five hours of Indianapolis.”

The tournament is expected to fill hotel rooms beyond Westfield, including the JW Marriott, Conrad and other downtown Indianapolis properties, as well as the Hotel Carmichael in downtown Carmel. Players and their families and some VIP guests are likely to rent houses at the course or elsewhere.

“We’ll be hosting international visitors to Hamilton County, which we’re very pleased to do,” Hamilton County Tourism CEO Karen Radcliff said. “We’ll be putting out a nice, big hospitality effort as well.”

Hotel rooms will be in demand locally not just from the golf tournament but also from events at the 400-acre Grand Park. Willis said youth sports tournaments have completely booked Grand Park’s fields next weekend, and those could have filled Westfield’s hotels on their own.

“We’re going to have tens of thousands of people in Westfield, and we’ll have our hands full,” he said.

Getting ready

Westfield, Hamilton County and Henke Development have spent months preparing for LIV’s arrival since the tour announced late last year that Chatham Hills would be on its 2025 schedule.

Westfield and Hamilton County finished work last month on a pair of projects to widen 191st and 199th streets to provide easier access to the course. Westfield officials have also been busy developing parking and public safety plans for the weekend.

“It’s a very intense four hours of golfing, and everybody is showing up at the same time to get in, so it’s a logistical nightmare,” Willis said. “We’re certainly focused on how we make that a smooth process for our visitors.”

Henke Development invested $2 million in upgrades to the Pete Dye-designed course, the clubhouse and pro shop, and other property amenities. Chatham Hills is the last course Dye designed during a legendary career. Dye, who was married to fellow course designer and amateur golfer Alice Dye, died in 2020 at age 94.

Betsy Henke Garfield, who directs development, finances and acquisitions for Henke Development, said LIV golfers are excited to play at the Dye-designed course.

“He could see golf holes, and he could see how things would contour, and a lot of the people in the golf industry know that about Pete,” she said. “So to then come here and know it’s the last time he [designed a course], and it’s in his home state, those things are just really kind of special to them.”

Henke worked closely with former LIV CEO Greg Norman on the course improvements to ensure they didn’t disrupt Dye’s original design. Changes included lengthening the course by about 250 yards, adding bunkers and making minor improvements to the clubhouse.

“We’ve also added about 15 new bunkers because where they hit the ball is not where our everyday golfers are hitting it,” Henke said. “A lot of improvements that we’ve made will be very beneficial to our members for a long time to come.”

Festive environment

LIV Indianapolis will be the fifth professional golf tournament in Indiana in the past 34 years following the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, the 2005 Solheim Cup at Crooked Stick, the 2012 and 2016 BMW Championships at Crooked Stick, and the 2015 PGA Senior Championship at French Lick Resort.

“Golf is definitely big business, which I think a lot of people may not realize,” Indiana Golf Executive Director Mike David said. “Certainly, having events here and bringing people from potentially all over the country and maybe even all over the world is obviously going to have a positive impact on the local economy, too.”

Fans who attended past PGA events will notice several differences at LIV Indianapolis.

For one, the pace of play is faster, with all 54 golfers on the course at the same time. On the PGA Tour, golfers have different tee times throughout the day. Rather than play lasting from morning to evening, each round will last four to five hours. Additionally, LIV tournaments are three rounds with 54 holes, while the PGA Tour holds four-round, 72-hole events.

Along with the action on the course, the Westfield event will feature post-golf concerts by musicians Riley Green on Aug. 15and Jason Derulo on Aug. 16.

Tournament organizers tout the party-like atmosphere that differentiates LIV from the more buttoned-up PGA Tour. The 11th hole will be known as the “party” hole, a hospitality area where “Indy Sports Bar” ticketholders receive complimentary food and drink, cheer players onto the course before they tee off and dance to a DJ spinning club music.

“I’ve been to maybe four or five LIVs now, and I spoke to a number of people at those, young and old, [and asked], ‘So what do you think?’” Henke said. “And they’re all like, ‘Oh, this is fantastic.’ Some have been to the PGAs. They said they love this because there’s more interaction with the players, with the fans, and there’s just more excitement with the music and everything going on.”

Creating opportunities

LIV Indianapolis will provide a weekend in the spotlight for both Westfield and Henke Development.

“This is an international event. So there’ll be media presence from every corner of the globe, and we have certainly not had that in Westfield in the past,” Willis said. “This will be the first time we’ve done anything to this level. If we do this right, it shows the international community that Westfield can pull this kind of stuff off.”

Along with Chatham Hills, Henke Development has built golf course communities at The Bridgewater Club in Westfield and Holliday Farms in Zionsville. The company is in varying stages of planning additional communities in Lebanon, Noblesville and Plainfield.

Henke said he thinks hosting LIV Indianapolis will provide a spark for the company’s future projects.

“Every project we do becomes our legacy, so each one has to be really good,” he said. “And so I think that it gives us a lot of momentum and gives us really good credibility to go and do these new projects.”

For Westfield, LIV is visiting at a time when the city is preparing for development both surrounding the 400-acre Grand Park and in the city’s downtown.

The city and Indianapolis-based commercial development company Keystone Group LLC are working on plans for Grand Park District, which could feature a 10,000-seat stadium, a sports technology incubator space and a park lined with attractions, housing, office facilities, restaurants and hotels.

Since the beginning of the year, members of the Westfield City Council have approved plans for three mixed-use downtown projects that combined are expected to add more than 600 residential units and 1,000 parking spaces, along with restaurants, shops and office space. Another downtown project, Union Square at Grand Junction, is expected to open later this year with 196 apartments, a 300-car parking garage, 17,000 square feet of retail space, and a 40,000-square-foot office and retail building.

Willis said he wishes he could show off a finished product to visitors, but he’s not going to complain about having the golf world’s eyes on the city.

“I wish all this was coming three or four years from now, but I’m just thrilled that we have an opportunity,” Willis said. “You don’t get to pick your timing with these kinds of tournaments and opportunities. You take them as you get them.”•