Organizers of the PGA Tour FedEx St. Jude Classic are “hopeful” of adding entertainer Justin Timberlake to the event "as early as next year in a role to be determined," according to Geoff Calkins of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. Tournament General Chair Jack Sammons said, "We do not have an agreement." He described negotiations as "preliminary." A source said that the negotiations "included a face-to-face meeting." Timberlake from '08-12 hosted the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas as part of the Tour's Fall Series, but that relationship "ended after last year’s tournament, and not particularly gracefully." Timberlake "played in the celebrity pro-am every year in Las Vegas" and also "hosted a benefit concert during the week of the tournament." Sammons "wouldn’t speculate on how Timberlake might be included in the Memphis tournament, but the name of the tournament is unlikely to change" given the Tour's "preference for no more than two brands in the name of any particular event." Sammons said of Timberlake, "He’s like Elvis. He’s part of the Memphis story. It would take the tournament to an even higher level" (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 6/18).
