The Barclays, the PGA Tour’s first FedEx Cup playoff event, is using the growing star power of Korean golfers to tap into the huge Korean-American population that resides in the areas surrounding its new home in northern New Jersey. The tournament begins Thursday at Ridgewood Country Club in Bergen County, N.J., after spending the previous 41 years in Westchester County, N.Y. Bergen County is home to one of the largest concentrations of Korean-Americans in the country.
The tournament will stage a Korean-language-only news conference on Tuesday that will be attended by Korean golfers and 15 to 20 Korean media outlets.
Organizers also placed a five-figure media buy with the Korean Bergen News, a free weekly with circulation of about 10,000, which included newspaper, radio and television ads.
In exchange, the company translated existing English-language posters and pamphlets into Korean, and printed and distributed them in Korean-owned or managed grocery stores, driving ranges and golf courses.
Barclays event marketing
materials feature four golfers
with Korean ties.
The materials provide ticket sales information and feature the images of golfers K.J. Choi, Kevin Na and Charlie Wi, all of whom were born in South Korea, and Anthony Kim, who was born in the U.S. to Korean immigrants.
The promotion began about three weeks ago and the tournament officials said sales have been incremental, but they are hoping to expand the effort next year.
“We kind of got going on this thing late, but knowing we’re going to be in New Jersey next year — the tournament is at Liberty National in Jersey City — we’re going to really try to blow it out next year,” said Sandy Diamond, vice president of marketing and sponsorships for The Barclays, who came up with the idea.
The efforts follow the continued emergence of Korean players on tour. Last year only two South Koreans held PGA Tour cards.
Choi won the Sony Open earlier this year, marking his seventh career PGA Tour victory in nine years. Kim won two events this season, and Wi finished in the top 10 at the PGA Championship in his first career major appearance. Na is on pace to keep his tour membership in 2009.
“We probably would have done this anyway, but the way these guys are playing it made it a no-brainer,” Diamond said.
The Barclays is the second PGA Tour event to use a player’s Korean heritage. Choi, defending champion at the Sony Open in Honolulu, taped a video message that was shown at a local Korean festival last month in the Hawaiian city.
Only Australia, England, South Africa and Sweden have more players than South Korea on the PGA Tour this year.
Connecting with local Asian communities is more common in the LPGA, where Koreans make up roughly 20 percent of active tour players.
