Lake Fong, Post-Gazette A TV tower soars above hole five at the U.S. Open course. Click photo for larger image.

What does $59.7 million look like?

Phil Mickelson's face on a Rolex billboard looming over Route 28 north? A banner for a staffing company in Monroeville reading "Now Hiring Fore the U.S. Open"? Or a booked hotel in the Laurel Highlands, 50 miles away from the golf course?

The nearly $60 million in economic impact that the U.S. Open is predicted to infuse over the course of the tournament is showing itself all over the Pittsburgh region, in ways as tiny as a $2 tip to a bellboy and as massive as the millions spent by the United States Golf Association and corporate sponsors to house, feed and entertain players and guests.

The economic impact figure, projected by VisitPittsburgh according to a formula devised by the Destination Marketing Association International, is more than double the $23.4 million spent during the pre-Tiger Woods, pre-Golf Channel, 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, said Bob Imperata, the group's executive vice president.

It's also about $7 million higher than the number predicted for last summer's Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

"You have a lot of corporate entities that are doing a lot of client entertaining, and it's a little bit of different demographics," said Mr. Imperata. "The caliber of people who are in for this event is about as high a level on the demographic side as you get."

This weekend, VisitPittsburgh will escort top clients for convention business around the golf tournament and the city, hoping to sell them not just on the U.S. Open, but also the vibrancy of the Downtown area with the Pirates in town, the Three Rivers Arts Festival under way and several theatrical shows in the Cultural District.

This Saturday, said Mr. Imperata, "will be one of the busiest, most active days in the business district of Pittsburgh that we will ever have."

Many of the personnel associated with the U.S. Open will also be staying Downtown, with hotel rooms in Oakmont severely limited. At least two years ago, the USGA reserved about 1,500 rooms at Downtown hotels, said Mr. Imperata.

Within the Oakmont business district, however, expectations are mixed: some merchants are optimistic, while others are hoping just to keep their heads above water.

Rose Henry, owner of the What's Cookin' at Casey's restaurant, said that business nearly doubled for last weekend, and that she's been encouraged by a steady stream of new faces.

The events so far are reassuring, she said, considering that the 1994 Open in Oakmont, when Allegheny River Boulevard was blocked off, was the worst week in the restaurant's 23-year history.

To accommodate the expected crowds, the restaurant is opening at 6 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., and staying open at night "till whenever," said Ms. Henry.

Richard Goldman, owner of the Mystery Lovers Bookshop on Allegheny River Boulevard, said he also would be optimistic about business this week -- if he were Ms. Henry. "I think the restaurants will do extremely well," he said. "I don't have a lot of hope for us."

The fears of Mr. Goldman have been articulated in academic studies of spending during major sports events. Studies examining sales tax revenue in Texas and California cities that have hosted baseball All-Star games show receipts actually below what would be spent in a normal year.

The reason, say economists, is "crowding out" -- people who would have ordinarily spent money during the major event will instead choose to stay home, or even go on vacation elsewhere.

Mr. Goldman said that he heard from his regular customers last week that predictions that "all routes to Oakmont would be a parking lot" would keep them away, despite the fact that the first day of practice rounds on Monday brought empty streets and plentiful parking. And he doubted that the influx of golf fans would be doing much shopping for mystery novels. "It's not what they're looking for," he said.

At Carabella, a clothing store down the street, however, owner Carol Kinkela was making every effort to convince visitors that she was selling what they were looking for. Clothing in preppy shades of green and orange dots the store, along with fitted T-shirts spelling out "Oakmont" in sparkly type.

She has extended her store hours this week, and is offering cold refreshments to passers-by. Still, on Monday morning, just one customer -- a regular -- was in the store.

"I have no expectations," she said. "I went into this without having a clue."

In Monroeville, Carol Harris is seeing a small piece of the Open's economic impact at her staffing company, Carol Harris Staffing. The USGA has contracted with her to provide temporary employees to do everything from setting up televisions to picking up litter.

The 50 to 60 employees she's placed so far -- plus a few dozen more than she's still recruiting -- represent only a small piece, business-wise, of the 5,000 employees that her firm places each year.

But she hopes that perhaps some of the people that she places to work the Open might be interested in longer-term employment. And more to the point, "it's just more exciting that we're a part of it," she said. "We're all hyped up in Pittsburgh about the U.S. Open."