PGA Change Prompts Booz Allen to Not Renew Sponsorship

PONTE VEDRA, Fla., March 20 -- For the third time since 2002, Washington's annual PGA Tour golf tournament will be seeking a new title sponsor, to take over beginning next year.

Ralph Shrader, Booz Allen Hamilton's chief executive, said Monday his company, which had sponsored the event from 2004 through this year, decided against renewing the three-year contract.

He said the tour's decision to shift the tournament from its regular June schedule slot to a fall date beginning next year was the major reason for his company's withdrawal.

Shrader informed PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem of the McLean-based company's decision in a telephone call Monday. He also told Finchem that Booz Allen, which by the end of its three-year commitment will have spent about $30 million in sponsorship and corporate hospitality, would continue to support the tournament as a secondary sponsor. He said the company will pledge $1 million per year to the event starting in 2007 for corporate entertaining.

The move to the fall also may leave the door open for a possible LPGA event in Washington next year. First-year LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said Monday her organization is "very focused" on bringing the women's tour to the Washington area next year.

"Beyond being my home for many years, Washington represents not only a great golf market, but the seat of power as well," Bivens, a former USA Today marketing executive, said in an interview at LPGA headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla. "There are four or five other cities close behind, but Washington is a primary focus for us in 2007, definitely."

Bivens, who was named commissioner in June, declined to be more specific on a possible location or date for the tournament. Bethesda Country Club hosted the LPGA Championship, one of four majors on the women's tour, in the late spring from 1990 to '93 before the tournament moved to Wilmington, Del., in 1994 when Mazda pulled its sponsorship because of weak car sales. The event is now sponsored by McDonald's and played at Bulle Rock near Havre de Grace, Md.

The men's PGA Tour first came to Washington in 1980, when the Kemper Open moved from North Carolina. Kemper ended its sponsorship in 2002 and was replaced by Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR) in 2003, followed by Booz Allen in 2004. The event will be known as the Booz Allen Classic for the final time this June 15-18.

The tournament was played from 1980 to '86 at Congressional Country Club and attracted world-class fields. When it was moved to TPC at Avenel in 1987, a number of players criticized the new golf course as poorly conceived and not much of a test, and the tournament has since struggled to attract top players. Tiger Woods has never played in the tournament since turning pro in 1996.

Last year's event, held at Congressional the week before the U.S. Open, attracted the best field in its history, with 17 of the world's top 20 players. This year's tournament, the week after the Open and back at Avenel, will struggle to attract top players.

"When we originally took on this mission, it was our intention to produce a world-class event in Washington and to raise a great deal of money for charity," Shrader said in a telephone interview Monday. "We felt good about what we did. But given the tour's decision to move the tournament to the fall, the opportunity to make the tournament a truly first-class event can't be realized and is no longer consistent with our objectives."

On Jan. 13, Finchem announced a major reshuffling of the PGA Tour's schedule, including the switch of the Washington event to a fall date. The schedule shift surprised Booz Allen officials, and Shrader said the tour had never previously indicated that it was a possibility.

The tour also had told Shrader it was planning a major renovation of Avenel's course and clubhouse, but Shrader said Monday he never saw a final proposal and still was not certain how extensive the upgrade would be.

Finchem was not available to comment Monday, but PGA Tour spokesman Bob Combs said the commissioner was "delighted" that Booz Allen would at least stay involved in some way with the tournament. He also indicated there was no question that Washington would continue to have a tour event.

A title sponsorship costs about $8 million a year for a tournament on network television; because the new fall series events will be carried entirely on the Golf Channel beginning next year, title sponsorships will cost $4 million and $5 million.

"We'll go out in the marketplace, and we're confident we can find a new title sponsor," Combs said. "We're also in the permitting process now to upgrade the course and the clubhouse. We're totally committed to that."

Tournament officials have estimated those renovations could cost as much as $25 million, though Combs said the tour has never disclosed the price tag.

In its two years as title sponsor, Booz Allen has raised $1.25 million for local charities, said Schrader, who expects the total to be more than $2 million after this year's tournament.