Tough times call for kissing up to sponsors
PGA players do best to make money men happy
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/04/2009 (6338 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CROMWELL, Conn. — Stewart Cink could have done a teleconference Monday to promote June’s Travelers Championship, where he is the defending champion.
But Cink, who is playing this week at Quail Hollow in North Carolina, instead flew to Connecticut for the day to shake hands with tournament supporters and meet with members of the media.
In these tough economic times, he said, it’s important for golfers to support tournaments like this one, which recently received a commitment from the insurance company to sponsor the event through 2014.
“At a time when everyone else is running for safety, for Travelers to step forward like that, it’s a big deal,” Cink said.
The event, which began in 1952 as the Insurance City Open and later became the Greater Hartford Open, was on the verge of extinction when Canon dropped out as title sponsor after 2002. Buick stepped in as a bridge sponsor before Travelers agreed to become the title sponsor for the 2007 event.
With the company’s help, the tournament last year opened a state-of-the art practice facility, and this year will have an expanded “Fan Zone” on the golf course, with attractions such as a rock climbing wall, miniature golf and free concerts in the evening.
Cink, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, said he’s been trying to convince other golfers they also need to step up and play in tournaments like this one, to send a message of support to companies that make long-term commitments to the sport.
“As the players play, the fields are better and the value is up for television, for the sponsors and it’s a better world for all of us,” Cink said. “That’s been difficult to get across to some players.”
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the honorary chairman of the tournament, said it’s also important to the state, which looks to the Travelers as an economic driver.
“Every time we’re on television and they say the words ‘in Cromwell, Connecticut’ and then they show this beautiful course and they show these wonderful players, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Cha-ching, cha-ching,”‘ she joked.
Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and Anthony Kim will be in the field this year.
— The Associated Press