U.S. Open Championship at Chambers Bay breaks records

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- It will take days, possibly weeks before we know the economic impact of this U.S. Open, but if merchandise sales are any indication of success, the U.S. Open Championship at Chambers Bay has exceeded expectations.

While there were plenty of fans in the grand stands in the final hours of the U.S. Open, there were still plenty more inside the Merchandise Pavilion.

From shirts, towels, and hats, Brandon Savage and his son Jack of Duvall didn’t miss out on owning a piece of history.

“Being a local boy, we got the Seahawk-themed U.S. Open shirt here, so I’m kind of a sucker for that sort of thing,” said Savage.

Savage wasn’t the only one buying up memorabilia at Chambers Bay, but one of the many who helped it break record sales with more than 130,000 transactions.

“We had our best U.S. Open sales ever, so we’re really excited about that,” said Mary Lopuszynski, the U.S. Open Merchandising Senior Director. “We surpassed Torrey Pines in 2008, which was the record up until now.”

Lopusynski said they sold 100,000 hats and sold out of logo golf balls and rubber bouncing balls. She also reported they sold more purple shirts than anywhere else, citing the University of Washington fans. Crimson red for Washington State fans and Seahawks colors were also hot sellers, she said.

This record is an early indicator for pierce county leaders that their investment in the public course paid off.

“Sales tax alone in the State of Washington, we’re estimating is $8 million,” said Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy. “We expect when the reports come back, it’ll be a huge economic benefit.”

Not only did merchandise sales break records, so did support from volunteers like Susan Richter and her husband Mark.

“We had it within the first couple of hours when they opened it up, so it worked out awesome,” said Richter.

What normally takes the U.S. Open a couple of months, took only 36 hours to fill volunteer hours at Chambers Bay.

For the Richters of Browns Point, the decision was easy.

“It’s an experience of a lifetime,” said Richter. “I think having the U.S. Open is such a prestigious event out here in the Northwest. It’s an honor actually to be here.”

An honor they hope to experience again.

“I would love to come back here personally,” said Lopuszynski. “Unfortunately they don’t decide where the U.S. Open goes based on merchandise sales. I wish it did.”

Merchandise sales and the time it took to sign up volunteers weren’t the only records broken at Chambers Bay, but U.S Open  Championship had the highest web traffic numbers for a 4-day Championship in U.S. Open history. It was 116 percent higher than website traffic at last year's Championship.