The crowds swarmed one group on Thursday at the PGA Championship, because golf did what others sports cannot: put stars from different generations together and waited to see what happens.
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida, and STEVENS POINT, Wisconsin (August 16, 2017) – The PGA TOUR and Sentry, one of the largest business-focused mutual insurance companies in the United States, today announced a five-year agreement making Sentry the new title sponsor of the exclusive winners-only Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii. The newly named Sentry Tournament of Champions will maintain its traditional spot as the first tournament in January 2018 when the 2017-18 PGA TOUR schedule resumes following the holiday break. The agreement extends through the 2021-22 season. “Sentry Insurance is proud to partner with the PGA TOUR to sponsor the Tournament of Champions, held on beautiful Maui,â€� said Pete McPartland, Sentry chairman of the board, president, and CEO. “This tournament and its champions format is the ideal way to more broadly introduce Sentry to the business insurance audience.â€� While this represents Sentry’s first major sports sponsorship, it has been involved with golf since 1984 when the company built SentryWorld, Wisconsin’s first destination golf course. Sponsoring the Sentry Tournament of Champions is considered a natural next step for Sentry, providing an opportunity to reach a wide business audience. “We are thrilled to welcome Sentry to the PGA TOUR and become its first major venture into sports sponsorship,â€� said Brian Oliver, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President of Sponsorship & Partnership. “Sentry is highly respected as a company that is dedicated to its employees, its customers and embraces the spirit of giving back. So, we view this as a relationship between two organizations that hold common values.â€� Sentry assumes sponsorship of a tournament that dates to 1953, when it was introduced at Las Vegas’ Desert Inn Country Club as an event for winners from the previous season. The Tournament of Champions remained at Desert Inn CC until 1967, when it moved to Stardust Country Club. The tournament moved from Las Vegas in 1969 to La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, California, where it remained for 30 years before relocating to its current home at Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui. As might be expected with a winners-only format, the Sentry Tournament of Champions has a rich history of champions, from World Golf Hall of Fame members to modern-day stars, as represented by just the past five winners: defending champion Justin Thomas, a four-time winner this season, including at Sunday’s PGA Championship; Jordan Spieth (2016); Patrick Reed (2015); Zach Johnson (2014); and Dustin Johnson (2013). About Sentry: Sentry Insurance is one of the largest and most financially secure mutual insurance companies in the United States, holding an A+ (superior) rating from A.M. Best. Sentry and its subsidiaries sell property and casualty insurance, life insurance, annuities, and retirement programs for business and individuals throughout the country. Headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Sentry employs more than 4,000 associates in 41 states. See a complete list of underwriting companies at sentry.com. About PGA TOUR: The PGA TOUR is the leading global platform in professional golf, showcasing the highest expression of excellence, both on and off the course. The PGA TOUR’s mission is to entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back, generate significant charitable and economic impact in the communities in which it plays, grow and protect the game of golf and provide financial opportunities for TOUR players. The PGA TOUR co-sanctions more than 130 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR China. Its members represent the world’s best players, hailing from 24 countries (89 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to more than 1.1 billion households in 227 countries and territories in 23 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations in order to maximize charitable giving. In 2016, tournaments across all Tours generated a record of more than $166 million for local and national charitable organizations, bringing the all-time total to $2.46 billion. The PGA TOUR’s web site is PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Welcome to the new Stats Insider. This new feature, which will run each Monday on PGATOUR.COM, will use ShotLink data and historical info to give you a deeper look at the previous week’s tournament. This was a good week to debut. An exciting young player stepped into the winner’s circle for the first time. Here’s a look at some of the numbers behind Joaquin Niemann’s win at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. Niemann not only became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA TOUR. He’s just the eighth player under the age of 21 to win on the PGA TOUR since World War II. You’ve probably heard of the other seven: Raymond Floyd, Seve Ballesteros, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Matthew Wolff. In the last 95 years, only three players born outside the United States have won on the PGA TOUR before turning 21: Ballesteros, McIlroy and Niemann. This also is the first year since 1931 that multiple players aged 20 or younger have won on the PGA TOUR. Wolff won earlier in the year at the 3M Open. It’s always easy to say Monday morning, but perhaps we should have seen this coming. Niemann’s game has been trending in the right direction, and The Greenbrier has been a special place in his career. Niemann was 158th in the FedExCup after missing the cut at the PGA Championship in May, and still outside the top 150 when the calendar turned to June. A strong summer allowed him to advance to the BMW Championship in his first season as a PGA TOUR member, though. He was 67th in the final FedExCup standings. After the PGA, he missed just one cut in his last 11 starts of the 2019 season. His worst finish in that span was T31. Niemann finished T5 at both the Travelers Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic and T10 at the John Deere Classic. Players have to go low to succeed in the summer months, and that’s exactly what he did. It continued last week, where he shot 65-62-68-64 to win by six. Niemann leads the PGA TOUR in rounds of 66 or lower and rounds of 65 or lower since June 20, the first round of this year’s Travelers Championship. Most rounds of 66 or lower since June 20: Joaquin Niemann, 14 Collin Morikawa, 12 Brian Harman, 11 Viktor Hovland, 9 Most rounds of 65 or lower since June 20: Joaquin Niemann, 9 Viktor Hovland, 6 Webb Simpson, 6 So what changed in Niemann’s game since the mid-point of last season? As usual, it was the putter. Here’s a look at Niemann’s average strokes gained per round through the PGA and after leaving Bethpage Black. There were slight upticks in his play Off-the-Tee and Approach, but the biggest difference was with his putting. He was 204th in Strokes Gained: Putting (out of 210 players) after the PGA Championship. From the PGA through last week, he’s averaged +0.47 strokes gained per round on the greens, an improvement of more than a stroke per round. Niemann led the Greenbrier field in Strokes Gained: Putting with a career-high +8.8 strokes on the greens. That was three strokes more than his previous career-high (+5.8, 2018 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide). This was the first time in his career that he led a tournament in Strokes Gained: Putting. He made five putts from outside 20 feet at The Old White TPC. His previous career-high in a single tournament was three. Niemann made just three putts from outside 25 feet in 40 ShotLink-measured rounds from the start of last season through the PGA. He’s made 19 putts from outside 25 feet in 44 measured rounds since the PGA Championship. He’s also performing better on short putts. He finished second at The Greenbrier in make percentage from 4-8 feet (among players with at least 15 attempts). Niemann has been competing at The Greenbrier since he was an 18-year-old amateur. In fact, it’s the only tournament on the PGA TOUR that he’s played three times. He’s shot a final-round 64 all three times. In those three Sundays, Niemann has combined to make 18 birdies, one eagle and just two bogeys. Last year, he shot a final-round 64 to finish T5 and earn his PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season. His third Sunday 64 at The Old White TPC earned him his first PGA TOUR win. He birdied six holes on the back nine to pull away from the field. Niemann is the only player in tournament history with three final rounds of 64 or lower. It should go without saying that Niemann’s 64.0 final-round scoring average is the lowest in tournament history. He holds that mark by a fairly wide margin. Only four players who’ve played at least three Sundays at A Military Tribute have a final-round scoring average under 67. Low final-round scoring average at The Old White TPC: Joaquin Niemann, 64.0 Alex Cejka, 65.7 Brandt Snedeker, 65.7 Ted Potter, Jr., 66.5 (minimum 3 rounds) Ten of Niemann’s 12 career rounds at The Old White TPC have been in the 60s, and six of them have been 65 or lower. That’s two more than anyone else in the last three years. Kevin Na and Robert Streb are second on that list with four rounds of 65 or lower at The Old White TPC since 2017. Niemann has 16 rounds of 65 or lower in his PGA TOUR career. Six of those 16 (38%) have come at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are on the course and look to close in on a new leader in the second round at Firestone.
