Sybase Returning To LPGA Fold As Title Sponsor For New Tourney

By Jon Show, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Sybase will return as title sponsor of a new LPGA event in '10 after declining to extend its title sponsorship of the Sybase Classic late last year. The California-based software company has signed a three-year deal that is worth approximately $2M annually based on comparable events. The new Sybase Match Play Championship will be held May 17-23 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey. The four-round tournament will award a $1.5M purse to a 64-player field and coverage will appear on Golf Channel. The Sybase Classic was held from '01-09 in northern New Jersey, most recently at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton. The tournament lost Shoprite as a presenting sponsor in November when the grocery chain decided to title sponsor a new tournament in Atlantic City, and Sybase declined to renew for '10. Octagon, which owned the former event, will continue to own and run the new tournament. The addition of the tournament pushes the LPGA to 25 official money events this year, down from 27 last season but nearly three times the number of events that were under contract for '10 as late as last July.