PGA Tour Canada hopes to ace a national sponsor

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This article was published 31/05/2013 (4835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem confirmed today that the newly rebranded PGA Tour Canada is engaged in a search for a national sponsor.

“We’re moving forward and we are having some conversations,” Finchem said this morning in conversation with a few Canadian reporters. Next week in Victoria, the PGA Tour begins its first season in full control of the former Canadian Tour.

“I think the thing about a national sponsor is that it’s just like a tournament — you want a sponsor because it assists your ability to stage the event but in this case, it’s important to have the right sponsor.”

For decades, the Canadian Tour searched for its own national sponsor but never found one.

With the PGA Tour’s resources now behind it, PGA Tour Canada likely doesn’t need an umbrella or national sponsor to survive. But Finchem pointed out the example of the present Web.com Tour, the development level just below the top rung of the PGA Tour, makes a good case of just how it might work.

“Web.com has become such a great sponsor in a short period of time with that tour,” Finchem said. “You want a sponsor that has the ability, the inclination, the market focus to be engaged across the spectrum of the tour in the various markets.

“Not every company fits that bill. So we’re taking our time. It’s not a prerequisite for this tour being successful but we think that it would bring more energy, more support and more focus to the growth of (what we’re doing).”

The nine-event PGA Tour Canada will make a summer stop in Winnipeg for The Players Cup at Pine Ridge, July 18-21.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca