Ginn Being Sued By PGA Tour Following Canceled Sponsorships

PGA Tour Suing Ginn Cos. For Pulling Out On Sponsorships

The PGA Tour Friday "filed a breach of contract suit" in Flagler County (FL) against Ginn Companies, after Ginn Wednesday dropped its pro golf sponsorships, according to Garry Smits of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. Ginn had three more years on contracts to serve as title sponsor of the Champions Tour Ginn Championship and the PGA Tour Ginn sur Mer Classic. Ginn had previously indicated it would drop the sponsorship for the PGA Tour event. The Tour "hasn't yet ruled out operating the Ginn Championship at least for this year, using reserve funds" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/31). In Daytona Beach, Frank Fernandez reports the lawsuit claims that had the Tour "not had a contract with Ginn, it would have entered agreements with other sponsors for the upcoming tournaments." It also claims Ginn "did not provide the PGA [Tour] with irrevocable letters of credit to secure the prize money for the 2009 tournaments as required in the contract" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 1/31). The Tour is "seeking unspecified damages, with the lawsuit only saying they would exceed $15,000, which is the standard language used in lawsuits of this type filed in Florida." PGA Tour Exec VP/Communications & Int'l Relations Ty Votaw said the Tour had "no forewarning that Ginn was planning to cancel" the '09 Ginn Championship. Votaw: "In fact, we had been in discussions with them on possible modifications to the agreement" (AP, 1/30).