Sergio Garcia sat outside the clubhouse in Dublin, Ohio, answering questions via teleconference about the Booz Allen Classic. It’s the rite of a defending champion.
But there’s one question that he, or anyone else, couldn’t answer: will this year’s defending champion have to do the same thing next year?
Steven Skinner, the President of Kemper Sports Management, is optimistic that another sponsor can be found, which would mean the PGA Tour would conduct a stop in Washington in 2007 and beyond.
Skinner, whose company runs the tournament, said they’re in talks with several unnamed companies about sponsoring the event. Booz Allen did not renew its commitment once the tour announced the event would be held the third weekend of September starting in 2007.
‘’We’re still optimistic we can pull this off,’’ Skinner said.
The PGA Tour said there is no imminent deadline to find a sponsor.
‘’If there is interest, we need to give it time [to develop],’’ said Chris Smith, the PGA Tour’s director of public relations for Tour business. ‘’We would like to stay, if there is the opportunity.’’
It would cost approximately $4 million to sponsor it in the fall, roughly half what it would cost earlier in the season because of television.
One option is finding multiple sponsors, Skinner said.
Smith said the PGA Tour is trying to boost fields in the fall with the new FedEx Cup, an individual points competition.
‘’It’s a bit of a shame,’’ Garcia said. ‘’Hopefully they can fit it in somewhere and we can come back and keep playing there.’’
