The Reno-Tahoe Open is hoping to look a little different this year — complete with fan-filled fairways and a generally more raucous atmosphere than the tournament’s previous seven installments.

The RTO is using some fresh marketing ideas in 2006 to create a better atmosphere in hopes of drawing more fans and eventually more sponsors, which are the lifeblood of the annual PGA tournament.

This year, the tournament, which runs from Aug. 21-27 at Montrêux Golf & Country Club, will have a “Hometown Hole,” a wine walk, a tour of Montrêux homes and art exhibit to help bolster the tournament’s appeal to people who want to see more than just golf.

The idea is to make the RTO the premier event for the region, and hopefully show potential sponsors, including an elusive title sponsor, that the tournament makes for a great way for businesses to entertain clients and employees.

“We are trying to make the event more exciting for the person that just wants to come out and have a good time,” says John Sande III, chairman of the Reno-Tahoe Open Foundation. “If we do that, then (businesses) that would be potential title sponsors are going to say, ‘This is a great tournament and if I become a title sponsor, I will be able to bring my customers and they will have a great time. So it’s worth it to me to give a significant financial contribution.’”

For the entire tournament’s history, which started in 1999, it has struggled to find a title sponsor, which would cost a company about $1.5 million a year to get the naming rights of the tournament along with a sponsor tent, exemptions into the pro-am tournament and many other benefits, says Jim Kline, tournament director. Most PGA events have a title sponsor and rely heavily on those sponsors to increase the exposure of those tournaments and for charitable giving.

That’s where the new approach fits in. Sande says the tournament needs to build a bigger fan base to make the event more appealing for its sponsors. Simply, the more visible the tournament, the more businesses will want to associate themselves with the RTO, Sande says.

The Driver’s Club, which the RTO Foundation started this year, hopes to fill both of the tournament’s biggest needs — more fans and sponsors. The club is mostly smaller sponsors, in the $1,000 to $5,000 range, and with that comes VIP tickets and parking that will help to bring more fans.

Also the Hometown Hole — modeled after an idea implemented by the FBR Open in Phoenix, the most-attended PGA event — will be a new draw for the RTO.

Loaded with food and drinks, the No. 9 hole of the tournament will be designated as the hole for locals to sit and watch the tournament as a kind of “party hole,” says Deanna Ashby, RTO marketing committee chair and executive director of marketing for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority, the second-largest sponsor for the tournament behind Employers Insurance Group.

A large video board also will be added to the 18th hole this year, so fans can sit at that hole and follow action from around the course without ever leaving their seats.

“We are trying to appeal to more than just the golf audience,” Ashby says. “What we are trying to do is bring America’s Adventure Place to the PGA Tour.”

Bringing in more sponsors also helps local charities. The RTO Foundation gave $225,000 to local charities last year and has given more than $1.5 million to local charities since the tournament’s inception.

The event costs between $5 million and $6 million to put on, and the PGA Tour gives about $3 million every year to go toward those costs, Kline says. The RTO relies on corporate sponsors for the rest of the bill, and whatever is left over goes to charities.

The tournament would like to give more, Kline says.

For the RTO to do that, it needs to get more sponsors, and that means selling businesses on the benefits of sponsorship.

“It’s all about sponsorships and teaching companies how to use the tournament for them as a business tool,” Kline says. “It’s not just about watching golf. It’s a way to cement relationships and form new relationships. And some of the companies we have are really skilled at doing that.”

Kline says that the RTO has about 80 sponsors each year, paying between $1,000 and $250,000 each year to become a sponsor.

Some of the larger sponsors include Sierra Pacific, Montrêux, AT&T, Eldorado Reno Hotel Casino and Wells Fargo along with the RSCVA and Employers Insurance Group.

But getting a title sponsor will go a long way to cementing the future of the RTO as the premier sporting event in Northern Nevada, Kline says.

“For this tournament to be on the level where I would like it to be, where the Tour would like it to be, we will never be there without a title sponsor,” Kline says. “If we had a title sponsor, we would probably give a minimum of a million dollars a year to charity. It would bring a stronger presence of our event on the Tour itself.

“We’ve been able to make it without one. But it’s not really where you want to be.”