[PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann]
A sponsor of one of the PGA Tour’s biggest events is ending its partnership.
Wells Fargo has been the financial backer of the tour’s North Carolina tour stop at Quail Hollow since 2011. Last season, the Wells Fargo Championship was named a signature event, a new designation given to a series of tournaments featuring limited fields and elevated purses, a designation it will keep for this upcoming campaign.
However, according to the Charlotte Business Journal, the bank and financial services company will not renew its contract, which ends in 2024. After the report, Josh Carpenter of SBJ wrote that Wells Fargo wanted to stay on as tournament sponsor, but was unwilling to pay the increase in purse (the tournament paid out $US9 million in 2022).
The news comes amid reports that tournaments and their sponsors are unhappy with the changes in the PGA Tour’s schedule and infrastructure, particularly with the tour’s ask that tournaments handle a greater portion of the purse responsibility. Not only are many tournaments’ financial backing stretched thin, but many are wondering what they are getting for their money, sources tell Golf Digest, especially if their events are not part of the signature series.
Wells Fargo wanted to stay on but was not willing to pay what was being asked. https://t.co/s7Ln1kRc3r
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) December 8, 2023
Wells Fargo’s decision also comes a day after one of golf’s best players, Jon Rahm, defected to LIV Golf, a move that could possibly accelerate – or complicate – the the tour’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to end professional golf’s civil war.
Next year’s Wells Fargo Championship begins on May 9. Wyndham Clark is the defending champion.
