PGA Tour's Gain of McGladrey as Sponsor is PGA of America's Loss

For all of the fanfare surrounding this week's announcement of a new PGA Tour Fall Series event at Sea Island sponsored by RSM McGladrey, it turns out that it results in a loss for the PGA of America.

RSM had been sponsoring the PGA of America's Team Championship competition, including its 2009 playing at Pinehurst.  It was the final time that RSM sponsored the tournament.  That was announced in November at the annual meeting of the PGA of America.

On the website for the competition, PGA President Jim Remy said, "We thank RSM McGladrey for their support of our Association and PGA Professionals, and we wish them well."

We contacted RSM McGladrey for comment and verification. 

Ricki Lasky, Senior Director of Sports Marketing for RSM, said, "Although we felt the Team Championship was gaining strong momentum, we decided a sponsorship of a PGA Tour event will allow us to gain greater brand awareness among our key client demographic, which is C-level executives, the majority of whom enjoy watching and playing golf.  Therefore, we decided not to renew our agreement with the PGA of America."

In effect, it was a business decision for McGladrey.  On the media teleconference to announce the event, the PGA Tour alluded to an 18 month period of negotiations and informal talks concerning the birth of this new event.  McGladrey finished their contractual obligations with the PGA of America and was the targeted sponsor to replace the since-promoted Turning Stone Championship.