After six years of active sponsorship, Hyundai motor America announced on Jan. 20, Wednesday, that it will be ending its sponsorship for the Tournament of champions which is usually stationed at Kapalua's Plantation Course.
However, Hyundai will pick up on a new sponsorship for the Los Angeles' PGA Tour event at Riviera country club. In its recent announcement, the company disclosed that it will begin the sponsorship in 2017.
Earlier on Jan. 19, Tuesday, the PGA Tour revealed that another nine-year title sponsor Northern Trust will shift to replace Barclays in support of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in the New Jersey/ New York Area, according to Maui Now. The tournament will get held annually in the same area, and sponsorship will also begin in 2017.
PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, in a statement to the press, acknowledged Hyundai's move saying that the company has been a wonderful partner that has promoted the Hyundai tournament of champions since 2011 when it took the sponsorship title.
Based on the company's headquarters and big investment on Los Angeles area, Finchem prospects that it will be a perfect fit for the company's long-term vision and goals as a tournament sponsor.
At another juncture, Hyundai president and CEO Dove Zuchowski told LA Times that for the past six years, the firm has been trying to expand its relationship with golf as a sport, and there could be no better tournament for it to get associated with. Extending his remarks, Zuchowski marked the PGA Tour Los Angeles tournament as a signature golf event in the country's second-largest market.
In the Northern Trust's time in Los Angeles, the tournament got upgraded in many ways. One significant way was a boost in the purse of the second-largest on the West Coast Swing ($6.8 million). One of the better-renowned champions of the tournament includes Phil Mickelson, who won in 2008-09.
This time round, the tournament of champions will get held at Kapalua until 2019 under a 10-year contract to be held by the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) of South Korea. As reports confirmed, SBS held the title of sponsorship of the 2010 Kapalua tournament after Mercedes-Benz USA had ended the title of sponsorship after 16 years in 2009. Here is a clip from the last tournament of champions: