NEW ORLEANS -- If there is, indeed, a limbo, John Subers knows where to find it, having visited there, at least professionally, while holed up in Baton Rouge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September of 2005.

And Subers knows how to escape it: by rolling up your sleeves and getting creative in the workplace.

Subers holds the dual roles of tournament director of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and executive director of the Fore!Kids Foundation, the non-for-profit that handles the daily business matters for the $6 million PGA TOUR event.

In September, he, like so many inhabitants of the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast region, hardly knew which end was up as one and all attempted to sort through a mountainous pile of agonizing uncertainty. But he was firm and clear about one objective: There would be a Zurich Classic in 2006. And it would be played in New Orleans after all the hell and high water the city battled through, fighting for its very existence.

“That was my main goal,’’ Subers said. “I had to do it for the city.’’

Subers, with more help than he ever could have imagined from his friends at the PGA TOUR, title sponsor Zurich Financial Services, English Turn Golf and Country Club and members of the Fore!Kids Foundation, not to mention people he never met, will accomplish the goal Thursday when the first official tee shot is fired at 7 a.m. CDT.

“A whole lot of support and energy from different facets got us to this point,’’ Subers said, his eyes set squarely on the finish line. “This had added a new chapter in all of our books.’’

Extensive storm damage ruled out the tournament’s latest venue, the TPC Louisiana, co-owned by the PGA TOUR and the state, which played host to the Zurich Classic for the first time in 2005. Subers, though, had been playing a game of ‘what if?’ even before the TOUR concluded the TPC was not a viable option in ‘06.

He floated the idea of returning to English Turn, which had hosted the event from 1989-2004, to the club’s general manager John Savage and its director of golf Dennis McGrail. They were game, but felt it necessary to run the possibility past some prominent members.

“It was unanimous,’’ McGrail said. “I even approached some members who were happy when the tournament left. Everyone’s approach was, we have to do it. There was an outpouring of support.’’

Subers spoke to English Turn on Oct. 14. A contract was signed, sealed and delivered Nov. 1. That was the easy part.

“We had to run hard once we secured the venue,’’ he said.

Just about every which way as a matter of fact.

Fore!Kids Foundation CEO Mike Rodrigue said the organization took much of the tournament’s operational infrastructure to the TPC in an effort to save money following the last dance at English Turn. What’s more, much of what was left behind was destroyed by the storm. That even included the electrical cables buried underground. As a consequence, much of the power will be produced by generators.

“Basically, we’ve re-done everything, from soup to nuts,’’ Rodrigue said.

Then there was the golf course. While it did not suffer significant damage when compared to other area courses, it did not completely escape Katrina’s deadly touch. McGrail and English Turn greens superintendent Matt Yount returned to the property to find greens the color of plywood.

Yount, who was headed to New Orleans to assume his new post when Hurricane Dennis chased him back to Florida, approached McGrail and bluntly asked for direction.

“He said, ‘Just tell me what has to be done,’ ‘’ McGrail said. “He was been tremendous. But that about what you’d expect for a guy who has 10 years of experience at the Masters and five years at the TPC Heron Bay.’’

Yount started with a punch list and meticulously worked through it until everything at English Turn was just so. Ask most members and they’ll tell you the course is as good now as it ever has been. But Yount chooses to deflect praise.

“With a lot of support and a lot of help from a lot of people we’ve managed to bring the golf course back,’’ he said.

Help came from far and wide, too. The Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association brought a crew of 29 to New Orleans in March and had a huge hand in restoring English Turn’s extensive bunkering system. The PGA TOUR also pitched in with equipment, financial and manpower assets.

Subers was working away as well, creating a different business model, one that rolled back sponsorship packages in an area that was suffering emotionally and economically.

“The aim,’’ he said, “was to give our supporters a break, but not spare expenses and still produce our best event ever.’’

The sporting public, which temporarily lost the NFL’s Saints to San Antonio and the NBA’s Hornets to Oklahoma City, Okla., has responded to an event’s staying power in kind. Skyboxes on the 18th hole are sold out. The demand was so great, in fact, that Subers decided to erect 12 more on the 16th hole, a feature that wasn’t detailed in the event’s sponsorship brochure. Sales of Champions Club packages also moved briskly.

“In all honesty ticket sales could have been a bust,’’ Subers said. “Think how many people around here lost everything. But what this is telling me is, New Orleans is a major golf market. The support of the region and the local community has been overwhelming.

“When I ask myself why, I always come up with the same answer. We’re about charity and about kids. And we’re going to bring some normalcy to people for a week.’’

Add it up. The combination of dedication, willingness to pitch in and sheer resolve has transformed a golf tournament into a feel-good story in an area desperately in need of more than its fair share.

“What we’re trying to show is the resolve of this dadgum city,’’ Subers said.

Consider it done.