SAS Extends Commitment to Champions Tour
Thursday, August 14, 2008, 8pm
For Release: Monday, September 15, 2008
Ticket Info: www.saschampionship.com or (919) 531-4653
Contact: Jeff Kleiber, Tournament Director
Jeff.kleiber@octagon.com or (919) 531-0240
Mark Francois, Marketing & Communications Manager
Mark.francois@octagon.com or (919) 531-0338
Michael McPhillips, Director of Communications
michaelmcphillips@pgatourhq.com or (904) 273-3470
SAS Extends Commitment to Champions Tour
CARY, N.C. - Tournament officials for the SAS Championship presented by Forbes have announced that title sponsor SAS has extended its commitment to the Champions Tour through 2013. The official Champions Tour event held at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary is in its eighth year.
"SAS is pleased to extend our partnership with the Champions Tour," said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. "The SAS Championship has proven to be a valuable asset on a number of fronts. Through the tournament, we have been able to showcase our community and proceeds have contributed to the betterment of youth educational causes in our area."
The agreement is a four-year extension from 2010 - 2013 with an option for 2014. The event currently has one of the top non-major purses on Tour at $2.1 million and assurances have been made to keep it as one of the elite events through the tenure of the partnership. The tournament has become a fixture on the Champions Tour fall schedule and has a distinguished list of past champions that include Bruce Lietzke, Craig Stadler, D.A. Weibring, World Golf Hall of Fame member Hale Irwin, Tom Jenkins and defending champion Mark Wiebe.
"We're gratified by Dr. Goodnight's continuing commitment to the Champions Tour and his charitable initiatives that provide so many educational programs in the Triangle region," said Champions Tour President, Mike Stevens. "The SAS Championship has quickly established itself as one of our premier events and this extension will allow us to continue to grow the SAS Championship's legacy."
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services. SAS software helps companies in every industry transform their data into predictive insights about company performance, customers, markets, risks and more. SAS has been the title sponsor of the event since its inception in 2001. The extension allows the SAS Championship to remain in the Triangle area and continue to grow its charitable impact with a focus on area education-based organizations. In addition, it provides unique opportunities to continue building relationships with SAS' most important customers and partners.
"We are thrilled to extend our partnership with SAS and the Champions Tour to keep growing the SAS Championship in this community," said Jeff Kleiber, Tournament Director. "SAS' commitment in the current economic climate exhibits the importance that this event plays in building their business relationships, philanthropy focus and commitment to the area where over 4,000 local employees live, work and play every day."
The SAS Championship has supported various educational organizations since 2001. In partnerships with Triangle Community Foundation, SAS has donated Tournament proceeds to non-profits such as Communities In Schools of Wake County (CIS Wake). CIS Wake operates the Tournament's signature project, the SAS Learning Center in a public housing community in Raleigh, NC. CIS Wake offers educational programming to help young people succeed in school and in life.
Ticket, sponsor and volunteer information are available at www.saschampionship.com or (919) 531-4653.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. With innovative business applications supported by an enterprise intelligence platform, SAS helps customers at 44,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.
About the Champions Tour
The Champions Tour is a division of the PGA TOUR, Inc., a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The Champions Tour will feature a minimum of 29 official events offering $55.5 million in prize money in 2008 and its highest average purse ever of $1.91 million. The Champions Tour operates under the umbrella of the PGA TOUR which includes the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. The Champions Tour's primary purpose as an entity of the PGA TOUR is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older; to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events also generate significant sums of money for charity. The commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Mike Stevens is president of the Champions Tour. TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
About Octagon's Golf Division
Octagon's Golf Division manages two Champions Tour events, The ACE Group Classic and SAS Championship presented by Forbes; three LPGA Tour events, Sybase Classic presented by ShopRite, P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship presented by John Q. Hammons, and SemGroup Championship presented by John Q. Hammons; and one Nationwide Tour event, Rex Hospital Open. Octagon's Golf Division also represents many of golf's top professionals, including: Chris Smith, Grace Park, Christina Kim, Meg Mallon, and Beth Daniel. Additionally, Octagon represents marketing rights to Gary Koch, and brothers, Bobby and Lanny Wadkins.
About Octagon
Octagon is the world's largest sports and entertainment representation and marketing agency with global expertise in consulting, athletes & personalities, event management, property representation, marketing solutions, licensing and merchandising and talent procurement. Octagon was named 2008 Sports Agency of the Year by the Sports Business Journal. As part of The Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services, Octagon employs more than 1,000 people in 60 offices around the world. For more information visit: www.octagon.com.