Little guy, big accomplishments in golf and entertainment

Through a life and career centered in golf, Jeff Sanders has been gifted in many ways.

The Sunset High grad was an All-American at the University of Oregon, finishing as runner-up in the NCAA Championships his sophomore year.

Sanders spent five years on the PGA Tour, the zenith coming his final year in 1985, when he entered the final round a shot behind leader Jim Thorpe in the Greater Milwaukee Open.

For the past 38 years, Sanders has used personality, knowledge, connections and work ethic to make his companies a leader in the golf event staging industry.

But in recent years, Sanders rolled out a little something extra to get to the head of the class.

Call it creativity, or ingenuity, and maybe a bit of free spirit that inspired the former Duck great to add to the traditional golf spectator experience.

Over the past few years, in cities such as Boise and Portland and Napa and La Quinta, Calif., Sanders’ events have featured not just golf, but food, beer, wine and music. “Golfchella” is what they call it in La Quinta, a spinoff of “Coachella,” the annual music and arts festival held in nearby Indio.

“There are a lot of events across our different tours that have a concert, or multiple concerts, as part of the tournament week,” says Andy Pazder, chief tournaments and competitions officer for the PGA. “I can’t tell you Jeff was the first operator to ever do it, but I would say he is the first to perfect it.”

It was a long road to get there for Sanders, whose current company, “Jeff Sanders Entertainment,” is the newest supporting sponsor for kerryeggers.com. I have known Jeff well for only about 10 years, but I am glad to call him a friend. I covered a lot of golf tournaments through my 45-year newspaper career and never saw one run better than the ones staged by Sanders and his company.

Sanders, who turns 67 on January 30, resigned from his position as president/golf events division for Sportfive sports marketing agency — headquartered in Germany — to start his new company in March 2021. We’ll cover that and much more in the ensuing piece.

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It might have been another sport besides golf that captured a young Jeff Sanders.

Growing up in his Terra Linda area of Beaverton, with neighbors such as Stan Walker and Rob Closs, Jeff was a catcher in baseball, a quarterback in football and a guard in basketball in youth sports.

“I’ve been friends with Jeff since we were 10 years old,” says Closs, who went on to play both basketball and baseball at Oregon. “We played Little League together. We played hoops in his driveway. He was the best player in the whole neighborhood until he became vertically challenged.”

Sanders says he is 5-9 — “well, maybe 5-8” — but it certainly didn’t stop him from reaching to the top echelon of the sport of golf.

Also a neighbor was Bob Allard, another vertically challenged athlete who served as mentor and inspiration for Sanders growing up. Allard, eight years older, was a punter in football, a starting guard in basketball and first-team all-state in golf. He would later go on to claim the Pac-8 championship at Oregon State.

“When I was about 13, Bob started taking me to caddy for him in the Pacific Northwest amateur tournaments,” Sanders says. “When he was a senior at Oregon State, I went to Stanford and watched him play in the final round of the Pac-8s in the same group as Tom Watson. When Bob won, well, that really got me going.”

By then, Allard had taken Sanders under his wing.

“Jeff, you’re a great little athlete, but not a big guy,” Allard told his prodigy. “Pour all your efforts into golf. I’ll help you get going. Let’s go.”

As he entered high school, Sanders gave up football, basketball and baseball.

“I started hitting golf balls and picking up the driving range at Rock Creek,” he says. “I had good hand to eye, and I worked hard at it. I was known as a grinder. Bobby taught me the short game, and that was the best part of my game — wedges and putting. Without Bob as my neighbor, I may never have gone to golf.”

At age 16, Sanders won the Oregon Juniors championship. He earned a full scholarship to Oregon, where he played with rival Peter Jacobsen.

“When I was a sophomore and Jake a senior (in 1976), we finished third in the NCAAs,” Sanders says.

That was the year that Sanders finished second in the individual race behind Southern Cal’s Scott Simpson at Albuquerque. It’s the highest finish by a Duck until Aaron Wise won the crown at Eugene Country Club 40 year later, in 2016.

“That was a big deal,” Sanders says. “Peter had won the Pac-8 (title). I was always chasing Peter.”

Says good friend Closs: “Competitiveness is a big part of how Jeff has achieved all that he has achieved. He doesn’t like to lose.”

Sanders turned pro in 1980 and got his PGA Tour card after winning the California State Open. He had his best chance to win a PGA Tour event during his final year in 1985, when he played with Jim Thorpe and Jack Nicklaus in the final group of the Greater Milwaukee Open. Thorpe won, Nicklaus finished second and Sanders faded with a final-round 77 that left him in a tie for 15th place, earning a $4,800 check.

It was Sanders’ final payout on the tour. He returned to Portland at the end of the year and began work as director of sales and marketing for the inaugural Fred Meyer Challenge in 1986.

Sanders spent the next two years working for Global Events Group, selling Indy Car and IMSA races and starting up G.I. Joe’s Northwest Open for PGA pros. In 1989, he started Jeff Sanders Promotions.

One of his projects was the Payless Celebrity Classic, which averaged raising about $750,000 for charities for its three years of existence, he says. Another was the Payless Oregon Team Championship, a TV production pitting a club pro, a female amateur and a male amateur against the likes from another club. It was a popular show for many years, eventually becoming the Albertsons Team Championship and growing into a 12-state competition in the Western United States.

Jeff Sanders Promotions also ran the 1996 U.S. Amateur, with Tiger Woods claiming his third consecutive title, and the 1997 U.S. Women’s Open, with Annika Sorenstam seeking her third straight crown (she lost).

The former marked the only time the tournament director has ever participated in the event. Sanders qualified, made it through medal play and lost in the first round of match play.

“What a thrill, just to get there,” he says.

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Sanders and his team have coordinated PGA Tour events in Napa and La Quinta with great success. If there is a signature event for Sanders’ career, however, it has to be the Albertson’s Boise Open.

It started in 1990, the year after the developmental circuit for the PGA Tour — then called the Ben Hogan Tour — was formed. The tour’s title sponsor has changed five times through the years, landing on Korn Ferry beginning in 2019. From Hogan to Nike to Buy.com to Nationwide to Web.com to Korn Ferry, 34 years in total, Sanders, Albertsons and the Boise Open have been there. It is one of four remaining original tournaments on the Korn Ferry schedule.

“And we are still at Hillcrest Country Club, all these years later,” Sanders says. The Albertson’s Boise Open has raised $33 million for local charities, including $3 million in each of the last two years.

Members of the Jeff Sanders Entertainment team pose with Will Gordon, receiving his trophy and a $180,000 check for winning the 2022 Albertsons Boise Open (courtesy Jeff Sanders)

Through his various companies over the years, “We’ve given more money to charity than any other Korn Ferry Tour event,” Sanders says. “I’m proud of that.”

In 2022, Sanders ran back-to-back-to-back concerts Thursday through Saturday nights in Boise, with Billy Idol, country group Midland and Train. Each drew a sellout crowd of about 10,000.

Billy Idol gets it on after golf is over at the 2022 Albertsons Boise Open (courtesy Jeff Sanders)

Bob Miller played in the first pro-am for the Albertsons Boise Open. He was then CEO and chairman of Albertsons. After a 10-year run at Fred Meyer, he returned to Albertsons in 2006, so he has been around the event for some time.

“It’s by far the best tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour,” says Miller, now Albertsons’ chairman emeritus. “All the golfers say that when they’re there. I’ve heard that many times — ‘the best-run event.’ ”

The PGA Tour event in Napa was called the Safeway Open from 2016-21, when Sanders ran the tournament. Safeway is a subsidiary of Albertsons.

“We started with a tournament that was kind of failing, and Jeff made it a huge success,” Miller says. “He tripled the number of fans in attendance. He made the event more fun. They raised more than $3 million for charity. That’s a big reason we do these events, to give back.”

Sanders and Miller have become close friends.

“Jeff is very professional, a go-getter, a real promotional expert,” Miller says. “He is really good at what he does. He always does what he says he’ll do. He is honest, he is great with people, he works hard. As a CEO of a retailer, I’m not afraid to cut him loose with my venders. I know he’ll do the right thing and treat them right and convince them to participate.”

Jeff Sanders Promotions ran the Winn Dixie Jacksonville Open on the Web.com Tour from 2010-12. Then in 2013, Sanders sold his business to Lagardere Sports, with headquarters in Paris and New York City, and became Lagardere Sports’ president of golf events.

“It was a dream come true to go to work for Largardere,” Sanders says. “It gave me an opportunity to monetize my business. I maintained my entire team and we were able to grow the business.”

Sanders made big inroads almost immediately. The Albertsons Boise Open was going strong. In 2014, he began the Winco Foods Portland Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, which enjoyed a seven-year run through 2020. For the first six years, it was the regular-season finale on the Korn Ferry Tour. At the end of Sunday’s round, Sanders had the pleasure of handing PGA Tour cards for the next year to the Korn Ferry Tour’s top 25 money-winners.

For the cost of $25 for a weekly pass, a spectator could watch golf and get free tastings of wine and craft beer. The tournament reaped about $7.5 million for local charities over its seven years.

The Winco Foods event was held each year at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course. Escalante Golf took over Pumpkin Ridge the second year and continues to own the prestigious facility. CEO David McDonald worked with Sanders through the years.

“There are a lot of promoters who are all talk,” McDonald says. “Jeff and his team show unbelievable execution. They deliver. The fans loved the events. They raised a ton of money for charity. The pro-ams they put on were fantastic. He and his organization elevated that tournament big-time.

“We’ve been in this industry for 23 years. They’re truly the best we’ve worked with. They’re really good at what they do. Our company loves those who do what they say and say what they do. From the first time I met Jeff, they have executed on what they say they’re going to do. In business, that’s everything. He is a quality guy who attracts quality sponsors, and they put on quality events.”

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In 2016, Sanders landed the PGA Tour event at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., and lined up Safeway as title sponsor. And that’s when the golf festival idea was truly born.

“I looked at the marketplace,” Sanders says. “The tournament needed more attendance. How do we get more people to come watch the golf and make it more valuable for our title sponsor?”

Safeway is in the wine and food industry. Napa is a source of great wines, and top-rate musical acts were only a moment away Sanders built a 25,000-square-foot food and wine pavilion on the course. Then he brought in four musical acts, each to perform a concert one night — Jimmy Buffett, Huey Lewis, X Ambassadors and Third Eye Blind.

“The $35 daily pass got you into the tournament and the food and wine pavilion and allowed you to stay for the concert,” Sanders says.

Sanders had connected the four marketing pillars — food, wine, music and golf.

“You buy a ticket to the golf and get to see name-brand entertainers after the golf for the same price as the golf ticket,” says Bob Miller, who witnessed what the model did for the Albertsons Boise Open. “And Jeff always keeps the ticket prices low.”

For five years, the Safeway Open featured major acts playing concerts following the golf competition. Napa owns some of the best vineyards in the world, and with a ticket, a spectator could do some wine-tasting while inside the Safeway Food and Wine Pavilion.

Phil Mickelson served as the event headliner all five years. And Hall of Fame golfer Johnny Miller, who lives at Silverado part of the year, was Sanders’ guest host for the event. Sanders also brought Miller to Portland and Boise to be guest speaker on media day for his events there.

Hall of Famer Johnny Miller (left) with Jeff Sanders at the Boise Albertsons Open (courtesy Jeff Sanders)

“Our friendship goes way back,” Miller says. “I’ve always liked his personality. He’s really friendly. He had a lot of confidence, which I was attracted to — the way he handled himself, his smile. There’s a lot of energy in his voice. He’s a fun guy to be around.”

Fry’s Electronics was the previous sponsor and wanted out.

“Jeff was right on top of that,” Miller says. “So was I. It was perfect timing. The tour wanted a new sponsor, anyway. Safeway became a really good sponsor. The (PGA) Tour knew about Jeff. He was a perfect fit. Couldn’t have been a better fit. He was good friends with Bob Miller. It was a win-win all the way around.”

As a player and broadcaster, Miller, 75, has been involved with more professional tournaments than almost any man alive.

“Jeff is the best at running a tournament of anybody I’ve been around,” Miller says. “Some of the stuff he did (with the Safeway Open), no one else was doing. Especially with the concerts every night and the low ticket prices. He is smart. He wanted people to come.

Another one of Jeff Sanders’ perks: He gets to introduce the band (courtesy Jeff Sanders)

“The fact that he is an ex-player, he know what the players want. He’d do everything the tournament needed to make the players happy. Most tournaments, the players don’t have anything to do with after they finish playing. At Safeway, they’d stick around and listen to the music. He thinks like a player. That’s a big advantage over just a businessman.

“Jeff is the real deal. He has a big personality. He has a lot of confidence. He’s a natural born leader. He could have done it in a lot of different fields with his intelligence and personality. He did a heckuva job for us.”

Sanders has also used Miller as a guest host for the events in Boise and Portland. When he was in Oregon, Sanders arranged a fishing trip with Closs and Miller.

“He wasn’t that big on fishing, but I sort of gave him the fishing bug,” Miller says. “He has become a pretty good fisherman now. I just like being around Jeff. He has good mojo.”

In 2017, its second year of existence, the Safeway Open shared with the Phoenix Open the award as the “most fan friendly“ event on the PGA Tour.

“Our marketing pillars were dedicated to food, wine, music and PGA Tour golf,” Sanders says. “We had increased the attendance five times by the final year.”

Next for Sanders and Lagardere — which became “Sportfive” in 2019 — was the PGA Tour event at PGA West La Quinta. The tournament was then called the “Career Builder” but was more famously known as the “Bob Hope Desert Classic” in years past.

“It was struggling for attendance and charitable dollars,” Sanders says. “We took the model we’d used at the Safeway Open to PGA West and revitalized the tournament.”

Sanders came on in 2017 and arranged for American Express to be the title sponsor beginning in 2019.

“It was a long-standing tournament on life support,” says Linda Evans, mayor of La Quinta and a member of the event’s board of directors. “We needed help. The PGA Tour needed to infuse a change. Jeff became the change agent to bring about a renaissance while attracting a new demographic of attendees — maybe not golf fans, but music fans, or food and drink fans. Stevie Nicks and Luke Bryan drew 25,000 fans one night. It was amazing.”

Charitable contributions the first year increased by nearly $500,000 to about $1 million, “and it has gone up since then,” Evans says. “He was able to reactivate local businesses for sponsorship and support. And American Express is now committed through 2028.”

Sanders and Evans became fast friends.

“Jeff’s positivity is infectious,” Evans says. “He is extremely generous and thoughtful. I taught him tequilas; he has taught me wine. We have fun together. We have done day outings and dinner and it’s a blast. Our spouses laugh. They say we’re two peas of a pod. Go, go, go!”

Among the other performers featured at Sanders’ golf events over the past few years: John Legend, Dave Matthews, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Jon Bon Jovi, Sammy Hagar, Bad Company and Darius Rucker.

“It’s such a great way to bring added attention to the event,” says Pazder, the PGA Tour executive. “The ones who do it the most successfully generate additional dollars for charity. It’s a really neat way of adding an extra element after the sun goes down and the golf ends to keep the energy.”

Pazder, who has been with the Tour for 34 years, has known Sanders for decades.

“I consider Jeff a good friend,” Pazder says. “The simplest way for me to say it is, he is among the best in the business — one of the premier tournament operators out there. His calling card today is the approach he takes in wedding world-class golf with food, wine and music. Every event he runs is very successful. He is a man of very high character, of sound principles.

“Most of all, we appreciate his creativity and his positive attitude. He has one or the most upbeat attitudes of any person I’ve met. If it’s pouring rain, he’ll say it’s gonna be sunny in an hour. Who doesn’t like being around someone like that? It permeates through his business and his people and the tournament he runs.”

Jason Gore won a tournament as a player on the PGA Tour but made his biggest mark with a record seven championships on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour. Included in that was the 2002 Albertsons Boise Open.

“I love what Jeff has done,” says Jason Gore, 48, now senior vice president/player advisor to the commissioner on the PGA Tour. “I met Jeff then and we’ve become good friends since. He is kind of a visionary thinker. His golf festival set-up is great for the fans — who doesn’t want to drink some wine and see a concert after watching some golf? But I like that he also has the player in mind. He does everything he can to make the player comfortable during his week at the tournament. He is definitely one of the best at what he does.”

Those closest to Sanders appreciate him for many of the same reasons.

“Jeff does what he says he is going to do,” says Ryan Fowler, who has worked with Sanders for eight years, currently as director of marketing and communications. “I have found him always to be trustworthy. He takes very good care of people who work hard for him.

“Jeff is a pretty competitive guy, which has helped him in business. I don’t know if it’s easy to get in his inner circle. It takes him awhile to trust you, but once he trusts you, he trusts you all the way. Once you get that level of responsibility, he really trusts you.”

Closs and Sanders have been friends for, well, only 56 years.

“Jeff is a very loyal guy,” Closs says. “When you need him, he is there for you. When my father passed away, he was the first guy to call me. He is the guy I can always call when I have a personal situation. I would do anything for him; he would do anything for me.”

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From 1989, when Jeff Sanders Promotions began, through 2022, Sanders estimates his companies have raised more than $150 million for charity through events they operated.

Now, Sanders is downsizing.

Jeff Sanders Entertainment, Inc., headquartered in Lake Oswego, is what Sanders calls “a small boutique golf/entertainment company.”

“We want to keep it small and fun,” says Sanders, the owner and CEO. “I don’t want to work 24/7 anymore. I did that long enough. But everybody wanted to keep it going.”

Sanders has six full-time employees, including daughters Nicole and Erica Sanders, both Oregon State grads, much to their father’s consternation. Also: Fowler, Brent Brewer, David Babcock and Kacie Cowling.

The company will continue to operate the Albertsons Boise Open — it has three more years on its contract — and will also do a two-day charity event in March at Indian Wells, Calif., to raise money for the military.

“We’ll work with people who want to grow their events to include things other than golf,” Sanders says. “I’m so passionate about the business and really enjoy the team aspect of working with people to achieve success.

“I’ve done some extraordinary events with this group of people. We take care of business, we entertain people, and charity is really important. That’s what drives us.”

Sanders has time to play a little more golf these days. He is dividing time between homes in Portland and La Quinta. He resigned from Pumpkin Ridge last year and is now a member at The Plantation in Indio, Calif. His penthouse condo in the Pearl is for sale, but he says he and wife Victoria “always want to have a place in the Portland area.”

Somewhere, anywhere, he will be living in the world of golf and entertainment.

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