Finchem Says PGA Tour Does Not Intend To Reduce Schedule In '10

Finchem Says PGA Tour Has Several Sponsorship Extensions

SHOOTING AT THE PENN: In Philadelphia, Mike Kern notes the preparations for moving the '10 and '11 PGA Tour AT&T National from Congressional Country Club outside DC to Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia are “already in motion.” Tournament Dir and Tiger Woods Foundation President & CEO Greg McLaughlin said the move will “create a buzz that would probably be similar to when the Phillies made it to the World Series, or the Eagles went to the Super Bowl.” McLaughlin is “optimistic about the possibilities” in the new location. McLaughlin: “We’ve found, at least initially, that the support has been really strong. So we’re very encouraged, (with) how (corporate/sponsor) sales have been so far. Ours is much more of an affordable model” (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 5/11).

WIN FOR HAWAII: In Honolulu, Ferd Lewis noted SBS, which was dropped from the season-opening LPGA SBS Open in Hawaii, "took the $4[M] or so it saved on the LPGA slight and threw a few million more" to obtain naming rights to the PGA Tour event, formerly known as the PGA Tour Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua. SBS "got a much higher value property" than the LPGA event it "had operated for five years and Hawaii got a 10-year answer to its anxious prayers since Mercedes had wanted out" of the tournament. The season-opening PGA Tour Hawaii swing, "without an anchor event at Kapalua," also "could have been in jeopardy since it is unlikely many pros would have wanted to come [to Hawaii] just for the Sony Open," and "without one -- or both -- tournaments Hawaii's key winter season tourism visibility would have taken a significant hit in January." Lewis wrote ideally a replacement "might still be found to somehow keep an LPGA event at Turtle Bay," but in the current economy that is "looking more and more like a longshot" (HONOLULU ADVERTISER, 5/9).

NECESSARY EVIL: In Virginia, Tom Robinson wrote while the LPGA's "much-touted diversity is great ... speaking to America's golf sponsors, fans and media in their language is better." Robinson: "Mandate or not, that's obvious for a U.S.-based, small-niche sport desperate to maintain that niche. The more non-English speakers who walk domestic fairways, the more chance that niche has of shrinking." Robinson also noted with "so many Koreans on tour now, it is easier for them to stay in that familiar cocoon and not reach out" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 5/10).

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