The LPGA yesterday announced that All Nippon Airways "will be the new title sponsor" of the Tour's major tournament in Rancho Mirage, Calif., which will "be renamed the ANA Inspiration," according to Larry Bohannan of the Palm Springs DESERT SUN. The tournament "will still be played on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club," the home of the event since its '72 debut. ANA is "one of Japan's largest airline companies and now becomes the official airline" of the Tour. LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said that the sponsorship "works well for the LPGA, which is popular in Asia, and for ANA, which can gain a greater presence" in the U.S. The tournament purse will increase from $2M to $2.5M, but Whan said that it "will exceed" $3M by the end of the five-year contract. LPGA officials had "quietly said the search for a new sponsor was busy, with many companies interested." Whan said that ANA "came into the conversation about midway through the sponsorship search thanks to efforts from IMG Japan." Bohannan reports the LPGA had "insisted on a five-year contract and the tournament staying at Mission Hills," and the ANA sponsorship "ensures that the tournament will remain in the Coachella Valley." The tourney had been "without an official sponsor since April, when Kraft Nabisco ended its sponsorship and ownership of the event" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 11/19). The AP's Doug Ferguson noted the deal marks the second major for which the LPGA "was able to replace a title sponsor." Wegmans "ended its sponsorship with the LPGA Championship, and the tour joined with the PGA of America to create the KPMG Women's PGA Championship" (AP, 11/18).
NEVER ANY DOUBT: The DESERT SUN's Bohannan writes the LPGA "was proven right" in expressing confidence that it would be able to find a sponsor, "even if the new sponsor left some American golf fans asking who exactly ANA is." Maybe the event leaving the desert "was a longshot, but the security of a five-year deal is always comforting." Bohannan: "Honestly, in the last few years, as Kraft made it awkwardly obvious that it would be leaving the tournament, the event was losing energy. And that loss of energy seemed to be picked up by the fans, who weren't coming to the tournament in the same numbers they had five or 10 years ago." But with a new sponsor, there "should be an infusion of energy into the tournament" (
Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 11/19). See the full sports sponsorship portfolio for
All Nippon Airways (ANA) at Resource Guide LIVE.
