Golf News

Can this PGA Tour event find another sponsor before next season? The pressure is on

2023 Sanderson Farms Championship

As the 12th and final year of sponsorship for Wayne Sanderson Farms at Mississippi’s only PGA Tour event is nearing an end, there is no better way to find a new sponsor than to show off at this year’s tournament.

Wayne Sanderson Farms’ run as a full partner with Jackson and its PGA tournament has been a historic one.

However, the 2024 Sanderson Farm Championship will be the last for the company as the title sponsor of the Jackson PGA Tour stop.

While its contract runs through 2026, the company decided in August to move on as the title sponsor, but remain as a major sponsor for the tournament, which is held at the Country Club of Jackson.

That leaves tournament director Steve Jent searching for a 2025 and beyond sponsor as this year’s tournament gears up to kick off next week.

“I feel really good in general for next week. The weather looks great. It’s going to be a chamber of commerce type setting, for sure,” Jent told the Clarion Ledger.

Also, Jent believes the tournament is on track for its main job, which is raising money for charity. He said early returns look like last year when the tournament helped raise $1.5 million in charitable impact benefiting Children’s of Mississippi and other Mississippi charities.

Since becoming title sponsor in 2013, the Sanderson Farms Championship has raised more than $17 million for charity including Children’s of Mississippi and other Mississippi-based causes.

“With both Mississippi State and Ole Miss on the road next week and with the weather looking great, that should help our crowds,” Jent said. “So, yeah, I feel great about next week.”

But as much as great weather and great crowds and a great field of players will make this year’s tournament great, making this year’s tournament great is important in showing a potential new sponsor the value of signing on for the future.

“We are still working on what 2025 looks like, and we still have some time to figure that out,” Jent said. “But yes, we want to use next week to entertain anyone that might be interested in being the title sponsor. Having said that, the clock doesn’t run out after the tournament ends next week. We have time still to work with the PGA tournament and come up with just the right plan.”

2023 Sanderson Farms Championship

Luke List of the United States celebrates after after a putt on the first playoff hole of the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 08, 2023 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by…

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