At a press conference during today’s pro-am event at the Deutsche Bank Championship, it was announced that the global banking firm will extend it’s sponsorship of the event through 2012. There has been much speculation in recent weeks if their name would remain attached to the event. There were event rumblings that EMC Corporation was slated to take its place.
EMC, who has been a “Founders Club Partner” since the tournament began in 2003, is now elevating its involvement with the tournament to now become the local presenting sponsor for the next two years.
Is that a loving gaze or what?
“We are extremely pleased to continue our title sponsorship of the Deutsche Bank Championship over the next two years,” Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, said during a press conference at TPC Boston, “The Championship has been an instrumental part of our brand-building efforts over the past eight years and remains a critical part of our overall brand strategy.” If you can read between the lines, what Waugh is really saying is, “I look forward to my pro-am day and having Tiger Woods as my partner every year, and I don’t think my life could go on as normal without that.”
I, for one, am happy that Deutsche Bank is remaining the title sponsor. They’ve put on a good show here in New England for the past seven years. It’s not that I was necessarily worried that the event would fall by the waysides without them, but Massachusetts went 5 years without a PGA Tour event after the departure of the New England Classic at Pleasant Valley Country Club and I’d go in to some serious withdrawals without a local event here in the Bay State to look forward to.
The event will live on, for now, but if the “Playoffs” actually survive is up for debate right about now.
