DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) – Golf fans traveled from across the state and country to take in all the Memorial Tournament had to offer, including seeing the players, the sights, and local businesses.

Golf fans said Sunday’s crowd was by far the biggest and the most exciting of the tournament and is proof that the Memorial means a lot to central Ohio.

Many of the fans at the Memorial said it was the people who made the event fun.

“I mean, you look around and you see all these people here and just the camaraderie and you see everybody coming together in Columbus,” Worthington resident Ryan Smith said.

Fans said the crowds were large all weekend, translating into a huge weekend for business and national exposure for central Ohio.

“Every year, I think the Memorial does a great job, but the more things we have like this in central Ohio, I think it brings more of these types of events here,” Smith said.

To be able to have a tournament as big as the Memorial in their home state was almost hard to believe for some fans.

“I don’t even know how to explain it, it’s just sick,” Marietta resident Erica Roberts said. “You see it on TV all the time, like, the Waste Management (Phoenix Open) and all the fun stuff out west or anything else, but then you come to Ohio and we have a huge golf tournament. It’s amazing.”

And while Roberts, Smith, and a few others picked Rory McIlroy to win the tournament, only two people picked eventual winner Viktor Hovland.

“I put a little money on Viktor,” Marietta resident Betsy Schrimm said.

“I’m going to say let’s go Hovland,” Worthington resident Will Pischel said.

Memorial officials expected the tournament to bring in more than $35 million to central Ohio’s economy.