Two local businesses provide services to help PGA Championship run smoothly

ROCHESTER, N.Y. With the PGA in town, all eyes in the sports world are focused on Rochester.

Local businesses are doing their part to make sure the tournament runs smoothly. From dry cleaning to security, it’s the work of local businesses here in Rochester that are making the difference for both players and fans coming in from around the country for golf’s biggest championship tournament.

“These were picked up last night, like half of it,” Branch Supervisor Katie Laughten said. “The other half has already been delivered. The other half goes back tonight.”

In business since 1934, Speedy Cleaners is doing its part to make sure players and their teams look their best on tournament day.

“So what we have been doing is picking up daily from Oak Hill at night actually and at different hotels that they are staying at in the area,” Laughten said.

Laughten says her employees have been working around the clock, picking up and dropping off dry cleaning and linens with a 24-hour promise.

“So they are like six in the morning getting things ready, cleaned,” Laughten said. “Then it gets delivered back at night to Oak Hill. So it’s a lot of business. So it’s really good. “

But clean clothes aren’t the only contributions local businesses are making.

David Thomas is the president and CEO of Bryx, Inc. in Rochester. His company designs state-of-the-art fire response systems for towns across the region. His team created a specialized response agency for the tournament.

“So we went ahead and treated it like any other first responding agency or Brighton fire or whatever,” Thomas said. “We did the same thing for the PGA.”

This creates a separate agency to specifically handle calls that come in during the tournament, making response times for firefighters and first responders even faster.

“So now if a call comes in, it comes through a 911 center, comes to us, and we dispatch this agency that is specific to the PGA,” Thomas said.

The second round of the PGA Championship gets underway at Oak Hill on Friday.