Bridgestone extends PGA Tour partnership

Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone has renewed its partnership with golf’s PGA Tour, with the company also taking on title sponsorship of the Senior Players Championship.

Bridgestone will retain its position as the official tyre of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions until 2022. The company will receive continued activation at Tour events and messaging across media properties as part of the deal.

Bridgestone will also title sponsor the Senior Players Championship, one of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, from 2019 onwards. Next year’s event will be at the Firestone Country Club’s South Course in Ohio, which has agreed a four-year hosting deal with the PGA Tour.

Gordon Knapp, chief executive and president of Bridgestone Americas, said: “The Akron community and the sport of golf have played significant roles in Bridgestone’s history and will continue to play significant roles in our future, so it is important to us that we carry the sport’s legacy in this area forward. 

“We are excited to work with absolute legends of the sport to start a new chapter in a 65-year tradition of premier golf events that have made so many positive economic and charitable impacts on this community.”

In a separate announcement yesterday (Thursday), the PGA Tour revealed that global logistics company FedEx would be replacing Bridgestone as the title sponsor of Ohio’s World Golf Championships event. The tournament will be known as the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational from the 2018-19 season and will relocate the TPC Southwind course in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bridgestone has been a sponsor of the PGA Tour since 2005. Scott McCarron (pictured) won the 2017 Senior Players Championship at Caves Valley last year.