PGA Tour Shopping Verizon's Entitlement Of Hilton Head Stop

The 41-year-old pro golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina, has become the latest PGA Tour event in the market for a title sponsor. Tour officials are quietly shopping a new deal to replace Verizon, whose five-year contract estimated at $7M annually expires after the event next April. While the Tour has announced new long-term deals or extensions for six tournaments this year, Verizon becomes at least the eighth of 37 FedExCup events that are formally searching for new title or presenting sponsors for '10 or '11. As previously announced, U.S. Bank will not return to Milwaukee next year and FBR will not continue in Phoenix in '11. Financial or legal troubles led to the loss of title sponsors for '10 in Palm Springs (Chrysler), San Diego (Buick) and Memphis (Stanford Financial). PGA Tour officials are also shopping deals to replace CA at the World Golf Championship in Miami and Crowne Plaza in Fort Worth starting in '11. The PGA Tour created a new event in West Virginia sponsored by The Greenbrier through '16 to replace Buick’s other event in Michigan, and Korean broadcaster SBS was signed through '19 to replace Mercedes-Benz in Hawaii. The tour also signed extensions with Accenture, Zurich, Travelers and Bridgestone through '14 as title sponsors of events in Arizona, New Orleans, Hartford and Akron, respectively. Verizon or previous incarnations have been involved with the PGA Tour dating back to '87 as title sponsor of events in Hilton Head and Houston. The PGA Tour declined to comment. Verizon and tournament officials did not immediately return messages. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem during a press conference last week at the Tour Championship admitted the Tour would “most likely” lose some sponsors over the next year. Finchem: “I think that it's highly unlikely we would go through '11 without some turnover. ... But I think that at least currently, I'm very confident that we're going to be able to weather whatever transition emanates in this area. I feel good about that right now” (Jon Show, SportsBusiness Journal).

EVENTS SEARCHING FOR TITLE OR PRESENTING SPONSORSHIPS IN '10
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic	La Quinta, California
Buick Invitational	San Diego, California
Stanford St. Jude Championship	Memphis, Tennessee
U.S. Bank Championship	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
EVENTS SEARCHING FOR TITLE OR PRESENTING SPONSORSHIPS IN '11
FBR Open	Scottsdale, Arizona
WGC-CA Championship	Miami, Florida
Verizon Heritage	Hilton Head, South Carolina
Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial	Ft. Worth, Texas
NEW EVENTS OR TITLE SPONSORS STARTING IN '10
The Greenbrier Classic	White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
SBS Championship	Kapalua, Hawaii
EXTENSIONS COMPLETED THIS YEAR THROUGH '14
WGC Accenture Match Play Championship	Marana, Arizona
Zurich Classic	New Orleans, Louisiana
Travelers Championship	Cromwell, Connecticut
WGC-Bridgestone Championship	Akron, Ohio

PUTT FOR DOUGH, MAYBE: In Manchester, Lawrence Donegan writes it was "startling” during the final round of the PGA Tour Championship yesterday “just how much confusion remained amongst the players” concerning the scoring for the Playoffs for the FedExCup. No one “understood what was happening," including eventual winner Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. When after his round he was told he had the lead in the points standings after a birdie on the 15th hole, Stricker "looked startled and then said, ‘Eh, whatever.’” Donegan writes Stricker "didn’t have a clue what was going on, and if he didn’t have a clue then where did that leave the general public? Lost, I would guess. Or possibly switching over to watch the NFL on another channel” (GUARDIAN.co.uk, 9/28).