Sentry Insurance has signed a five-year title sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii. The newly named Sentry Tournament of Champions will keep its traditional spot as the first tournament in January when the ‘17-18 PGA Tour schedule resumes following its holiday break. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal extends through the ‘21-22 season. This represents the first major sports sponsorship for Wisconsin-based Sentry Insurance. “This tournament and its champions format is the ideal way to more broadly introduce Sentry to the business insurance audience,” said Sentry Chair, President & CEO Pete McPartland in a statement. Sentry replaces SBS as the tournament sponsor (John Lombardo, Staff Writer). The AP's Doug Ferguson noted the move strengthens the Tour's "commitment to starting the new year in Hawaii." The '18 iteration "marks the 20th straight time the PGA Tour starts a new year on Maui." South Korean broadcaster SBS "had been the title sponsor and briefly farmed it out to Hyundai until the automaker switched its sponsorship" to L.A. and the Genesis Open at Riviera. SBS had been "looking for a new sponsor to take over before its deal expired" at the end of '19. McPartland said that the company "hoped to benefit immediately from more name recognition." He added that the partnership with the PGA Tour would "allow it to entertain more top clients at Kapalua and other tournaments throughout the schedule" (AP, 8/16). In Milwaukee, Gary D'Amato notes though terms of the deal were not disclosed, title sponsorship of a Tour event "reportedly starts" at $7M annually. McPartland: "We’re going to bring some of our top customers and brokers to Kapalua and engage with them. Many of our customers play golf and follow golf. We kind of see it as a year-round opportunity to engage with our customers" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 8/17).
