Accounting firm McGladrey has extended its sponsorship of the PGA Tour's McGladrey Classic by five years through '20. McGladrey came on as title sponsor for the inaugural '10 event and its current three-year deal expires following next year's tournament (PGA Tour). Golfer Davis Love III, who hosts the event that takes place at the Sea Island Resort on St. Simons Island, Ga., said, "We've had a great relationship with McGladrey the last five years, and to continue that for five more is just incredible. We never thought we'd make it through year one" ("Golf Central," Golf Channel, 10/22). In Georgia, Nathan Deen cites Tournament Dir Scott Reid as saying that landing a title sponsor "can be a great concern for a young tournament" like the McGladrey, which began play today. He added that the new deal allows himself and Sea Island to "start focusing more on improvements in the future." Love said that the date of the tournament "will definitely be pushed back to late November in 2015, and the idea of including Sea Island’s Plantation course into the tournament venue is also being discussed." He added that the date change was "settled on in order to move the tournament away from the popular CIMB Classic in Malaysia and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai." Love believes that the move will "help attract a larger and more prominent field" (BRUNSWICK NEWS, 10/23). GOLFWEEK's Alex Miceli noted next year's event "will anchor the end of the calendar year." PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said that the field "will expand from 132 players to 156, and that both the Plantation and Seaside courses will be used." Finchem: "We’re looking at everything to get the school and the Web.com cards into more tournaments top to bottom. It’s healthy for the tournament. Get more players here and make it a little bigger event and double pro-am. ... It will help everything and of course create more playing opportunities" (GOLFWEEK.com, 10/23).
GEORGIA ON MY MIND: In Augusta, Scott Michaux wrote the McGladrey, which "started out as a stepchild 'Fall Series' event five years ago," has grown into a "welcome fixture on the front end of the PGA Tour’s new wrap-around schedule." Whatever “'regular-season' envy" Love and his associates "might have had when they started this thing has dissipated as the benefits of a date on the fall schedule start to grow." McGladrey Classic Exec Dir Mark Love said, "We have kind of embraced it. We've kind of bounced around a bit. We look forward to a little more consistency." Michaux noted there was "once talk of Sea Island pushing to become the decompression event after the nearby Players Championship in May, filling the same family getaway role that Hilton Head Island offers the week after the Masters." But tournament officials seem "less inclined to push for that kind of move that requires a greater financial commitment, preferring the boutique atmosphere that seems suited to the Golden Isles in the fall." Davis Love said, "I like being in the fall. I don’t know if we can get that much better by spending that much more money to be in the spring” (AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, 10/21).
