But you can plan on spending less for tickets to the golf tournament than you would on other sporting events in the Bay area - as little as $50 for two adults and two children Thursday or Friday, or $70 for the same four tickets Saturday or Sunday.

In comparison, you'd spend $100 for the cheapest four tickets for Sunday's matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium - that is, if tickets were still available, which they are not.

The cheapest four tickets for a Tampa Bay Lightning game at St. Pete Times Forum also cost $100.

Gerald Goodman, the tournament director for the Chrysler Championship, said cost is just one of the reasons why he's expecting families to turn out for this week's events.

``Golf is so full of integrity,'' he said. ``They're not spitting and kicking and fighting out there. Where will you take your child?''

Admission is free for children under 17 with a paying adult.

PGA Tour play is nothing new to the Bay area: the JCPenney Mixed-Team Classic was held here for 23 years until 1999, followed by the Tampa Bay Classic in 2000 and 2002. The 2001 event was canceled because it of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that year.

The Chrysler Championship is different from its predecessors because it's a full-field, stand-alone event - the first of its kind to be held here since the St. Petersburg Open in 1964 - which means the money players win will count toward their standings in the PGA Tour. It's also players' last opportunity to qualify for the Tour Championship next week in Houston.

The players list for the Chrysler Championship reads like a Who's Who in men's professional golf: Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson and others. The most notable name missing? Tiger Woods.

Kathleen Davis, executive director of the Sport Management Research Institute in Westin, said golf tournaments like the Chrysler Championship drive up sales at local restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores and other businesses. The biggest economic benefit, however, comes from the TV coverage of the event, she said.

``You've got a great opportunity to showcase your community as a warm, hospitable place to be as winter approaches,'' she said.

Davis said her firm has been involved with the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., and polls taken by her company at that tournament have shown that more than a quarter of the people at the event decided to attend it because they saw it the previous year on television.

``It's the power of the media,'' she said. ``It's pretty phenomenal.''

Goodman said the Chrysler tournament carries ``a little bit more magnitude'' than the JCPenney events, which paired men and women together and didn't count toward a player's PGA money ranking.

He said the tournament's weight and players should draw more fans than past events. Over seven days, he hopes to draw 100,000 people to the championship, hosted at the Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor. The event kicked off Monday with a Lightning Foundation Pro-Am, and with practice rounds Tuesday that continue today.

``We hope the Tampa Bay area comes out, supports this tournament, and shows the PGA Tour and the world that Tampa Bay is the place to be,'' Goodman said.

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762.