Woodcliff Lake/Munich. BMW of North America, the PGA TOUR and Western Golf Association (WGA) today announced that BMW’s commitment as title sponsor of the BMW Championship has been extended by five years, through 2019.
BMW has sponsored the tournament since 2007 when it became the third of four Playoff events with the introduction of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs. During the term of the extension, BMW will continue to serve as the “Official Vehicle” of The Barclays and TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, the first and final FedExCup Playoff events, respectively. This year’s BMW Championship will be contested Sept. 4-7 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado.
“Since becoming title sponsor of this historic tournament, BMW not only has been committed to elevating the stature of the BMW Championship as a Playoff event, but also to supporting the WGA and the Evans Scholars Foundation,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “BMW has been a terrific partner of both the PGA TOUR and WGA, and we very much look forward to continuing this collaboration over the next five years.”
“As a supporter of golf globally for the past 25 years, we are very excited to extend our partnership with the PGA TOUR and Western Golf Association,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “Not only does the BMW Championship provide us the opportunity to connect with our network of owners, dealers and golf fans across the U.S., but also continues our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation and help the WGA in its drive to send 1,000 caddies to college annually by 2020.”
This extension reaffirms BMW’s continued global support of golf and follows the recent announcement of the extension of its partnership with the European Tour through 2018 to continue BMW’s entitlement of three premier events – the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the BMW International Open in Germany and the BMW Masters in China, the first event in the Race to Dubai final series.
BMW has also been involved with the Ryder Cup since 2006, first as a sponsor and then, from 2010, as an Official Partner and will continue to remain fully involved up to and including the 2018 match against the United States in France. Within the scope of the extensive partnership, BMW remains the “Official Car to the European Tour” and “Official Partner of the European Tour”.
The BMW Championship was named the PGA TOUR’s Tournament of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and includes an impressive list of champions, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Camilo Villegas and defending champion, Zach Johnson.
“On behalf of the players, I would like to sincerely thank BMW for its continued support of this great event,” Zach Johnson said. “The BMW Championship is extremely important to us in determining the eventual FedExCup champion and BMW does a tremendous job with the event. On a personal note, I’m obviously thrilled to have won the BMW Championship last year at Conway Farms and hope to have the opportunity to defend in September at Cherry Hills.”
All net proceeds from the BMW Championship conducted by the WGA benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, which grants full college scholarships to deserving young caddies. Since BMW became title sponsor in 2007, the tournament has contributed more than $16 million to the Evans Scholars Foundation.
“BMW has gone above and beyond our expectations as a partner in the ongoing support of our Evans Scholars Program,” said WGA President & CEO John Kaczkowski. “Thanks to BMW’s generosity, we’ve been able to send many more deserving golf caddies to college. We’re committed to working with BMW in the years ahead to add to the BMW Championship’s reputation as a leader on the PGA TOUR. And we’re looking forward to supporting more caddies thanks to this extension of our partnership with BMW and the PGA TOUR.”
The BMW Championship dates back to 1899 when it debuted as the Western Open, making it the third-oldest tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule, behind only the British Open and U.S. Open. Once it became the penultimate Playoff event, the tournament converted from a full field event to a field of 70 players to determine the final 30 players for the FedExCup finale at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta.