Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre and rubber company, announce an agreement with the PGA TOUR to become title sponsor for the inaugural America’s Golf Cup, a team format event featuring members of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica competing alongside PGA TOUR stars such as Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero. The inaugural event will take place at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 20-26 October.
“Having a world-class sponsor like Bridgestone coupled with world-class golfers like Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero makes for a world-class event in Latina America,” said Lisandro Borges, CEO of the America’s Golf Cup. “This will be a unique and unprecedented experience for everyone involved and promises to further develop the game of golf in the region.”
The tournament format will be two-man teams playing Four-Ball (Best-Ball) over 72 holes, with a maximum of 36 teams in the field. Six of those teams will be pre-determined by invitation, while the additional 30 teams will come from the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit (OOM).
Woods and Kuchar have committed to represent the United States, while Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero will represent Argentina. No other PGA TOUR members will be invited to compete.
“We are pleased to provide our members with an opportunity to play an event as special as this one. The Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup complements the work we currently do in the region in that it will provide PGA TOUR Latinoamerica members an opportunity to prepare for the higher levels of professional golf. This championship will be a wonderful event to help promote our players, our Tour and golf in the region,” said Jack Warfield, President of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica.
Offering a purse of $600,000, the America’s Golf Cup will be an unofficial money event, with players’ earnings not counting towards the OOM and the season-long race for Web.com Tour cards. The cut-off date for PGA TOUR Latinoamerica member qualification will be Oct. 12, following the TransAmerican Power Products CRV Mazatlan Open.
The countries currently eligible to participate at the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup are United States, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Spain, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and Uruguay. Qualified players will select their partners from the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit.
“We believe the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup will serve as an important platform on which the Latin America region can continue to advance the game of golf and all of its benefits – those that include healthy lifestyles, improved economic development, and world-class attention,” said Gabriel Asbun, President of Bridgestone Latin America Tire Division. “More importantly for our company, an event that captures leading athletes and exemplifies top performance is a venue through which we want Latin America to know our leading products ranging from all types of tires to golf and other sporting goods, as well as building products.”
Through its title sponsorship in the America’s Golf Cup, Bridgestone is reinforcing its commitment to sports and renowned events at a global level. The company serves as the title sponsor for Copa Bridgestone Libertadores, South America’s premier international club soccer tournament. Bridgestone also has strong ties to the golf community as the Official Tire of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour through 2018, while Bridgestone Golf, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., manufactures premium golf balls, clubs and accessories for golfers around the world. Bridgestone is represented on the golf course by a number of internationally famed golfers including, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III, Nick Price, Brandt Snedeker, Karrie Webb and Paula Creamer. Bridgestone Golf, the number one ball fitter in golf, is also the industry leader in live launch monitor fittings.
The announcement comes on the heels of the ninth annual World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational which was held July 31-Aug. 3 at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Bridgestone first began sponsoring the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in 2006, and the current title sponsorship agreement runs through 2018.
Each of these platforms provides an opportunity for Bridgestone to extend its mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality” to a distinguished consumer demographic who can correlate high-performance tire technology to the high-quality products they’re familiar with on the golf course.
America’s Golf Cup www.americasgolfcup.com
PGA TOUR Latinoamerica www.pgatourla.com