Jimmy Wallace has joined Crown Golf as English Open Sponsorship & Events Director, to spearhead the drive to raise sponsorship for the English Open – which returns to The European Tour in 2011.
With English golf going through a purple patch – this weekend’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship finalists, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, are both English, and along with fellow Englishman Lee Westwood they occupy half of golf’s current top six World Ranking places – the appointment of a supremo for the country’s national Open is well-timed.
Wallace will be based at the company’s Blue Mountain headquarters, and will work in conjunction with The European Tour, Crown Golf Sales & Marketing Director, Nick Moran, and St Mellion International Resort Director, Stephen Towers.
The English Open will be staged on The Nicklaus Signature Course at St Mellion International Resort, in Cornwall, in August 2011. The Resort was recently refurbished, gaining an 80-bedroom 4-star resort hotel as part of a £20m redevelopment.
Jimmy Wallace has over 13 years experience in the golf operations, sports events and sports sponsorship industry in both the UK and Asia, covering golf tournaments co-sanctioned with The European Tour as well as football, basketball, cricket and snooker competitions.
He played an important role in raising funds for London’s successful bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, and also provided expertise to BT’s Sports Sponsorship Programme.
“I am very confident that Jimmy’s expertise and skill set will provide us with every chance of raising the sponsorship and making the English Open a successful event,” said Crown Golf Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Lewis.
“We are going to put England’s national golf Open back on the map,” said Jimmy Wallace.
“Anyone who has seen St Mellion since its reopening in 2009 knows that it is now a stunning venue for a big golf tournament, and we are going to use not only The English Open event itself, but also the huge audience Crown Golf can provide across its 30 golf properties to provide a powerful package for the title sponsor and the other event sponsors.”
English Open www.englishopenatstmellion.co.uk
Crown Golf www.crown-golf.co.uk
St Mellion International Resort www.st-mellion.co.uk