Even the rain couldn’t keep PLAYERS Championship attendees from seeking out one of the top venues at the tournament: Wine & Dine on 9.
Presented by the official wine of the PGA TOUR, Meiomi Wines, and run by the Bonefish Grill of Mandarin, it was a good and tasteful way to easily pair seafood with chardonnay.
The restaurant’s managing partner, Joe Peterson, said people didn’t seem to be deterred by the soggy weather.
“They’re just happy to be out here,” he said on Thursday of tournament week. “And we’re happy to be out here.”
Bonefish Grill has been involved with the tournament since the truncated 2020 season, and it has proven to be a valuable arrangement. At the 2021 PLAYERS, the restaurant did four times as much business as had been predicted.
“It’s huge,” Peterson said. “I mean, this is our demographic.”
It was huge, too, for Peterson, who said he is “super-passionate about golf.”
The crowds tend to wax and wane at the venue as they track the players, and because Wine & Dine on 9 is located in the juxtaposition of three holes (9, 5 and 7), the tide can quickly turn in the restaurant’s favor.
“Sometimes, when you get the big names on all three holes, there’ll be no people out here and all of a sudden, you’ve got a hundred people lined up,” Peterson said.
This year, to familiarize attendees with Meiomi Wines, a golf simulator of the 7th hole at Pebble Beach was installed next to the tent.
“We definitely just wanted something different here this year to attract more people, to get the word out more and give the people more options for fun while they’re walking around,” said Sandi Demski, representing the wine brand.
One of the benefits of the simulator was that visitors could get some complimentary advice from a PGA pro on site. That lesson would then be emailed to the visitor for future review.
[Cameron Smith wins THE PLAYERS. Read about it here.]
