Press release 23 May 2010
BMW Golfsport: The European Tour and BMW extend partnership to 2014.
The European Tour and BMW are de lighted to announce a four year extension to their partnership for the BMW PGA Championship, The European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth Club, through to 2014.
The first PGA Championship under the BMW banner was held in 2005, and it has upheld its reputation as one of the highlights of the International Schedule, featuring world class fields and thrilling battles over the iconic West Course which has been extensively remodelled over the past 12 months.
The German car manufacturer has forged exceptionally strong links with The European Tour and is the title sponsor of two other events this season: the BMW Italian Open and the BMW International Open in Germany. In addition BMW is the
Company Bayerische Official Car partner of The European Tour, The 2010 Ryder Cup and 11 European Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft Tour events.
Postal address BMW AG 80788 München Last month, it was also announced that The European Tour’s partnership with Office address Petuelring 130 BMW in Germany for the BMW International Open has also been extended through Office address Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum (FIZ) to 2014, when the tournament will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Knorrstraße 147
Telephone Switchboard +49 89 382-0 George O’Grady, The European Tour’s Chief Executive, said: “BMW are our
Fax strongest and most committed commercial partner with the events they support +49 89 382-25858
Internet here in Europe and around the world. The foundations were laid in 1989 with the www.bmw.com first BMW International Open and strengthened in 2005 with the first BMW PGA Bank details BMW Bank GmbH Account No. Championship, and we are delighted to announce the extension of our partnership 5 100 940 940 Bank Code to 2014. BMW is a byword for how things should be done. They look after their 702 203 00
IBAN DE02 7022 0300 customers and clients and, in our case, they look after golf and what golf stands for. 5100 9409 40 We are fortunate to have BMW as a partner.” SWIFT(BIC) BMWBDEM1
Chairman of Supervisory Board Ralf Hussmann, BMW Sports Marketing & Brand Cooperation, said: “We are in the Joachim Milberg
Board of Management game for the long term and are delighted to agree another four year extension to Norbert Reithofer Chairman of the Board Frank-Peter Arndt Herbert Diess Klaus Draeger Friedrich Eichiner Harald Krüger Ian Robertson
Registered in Germany München HRB 42243
our partnership, and firmly believe that with the help of our partners at The European Tour and Wentworth Club the BMW PGA Championship will continue to grow in stature and consolidate its reputation as one of the finest events in world golf.
“BMW has been involved in golf for more than 20 years and we continue to see it as an emotional platform through which to market our products and communicate with our key customers, both in Europe and further afield.
“Wentworth Club is symbolic of great tradition and countless important competitions, and it is great to see how the Club has developed further to stay ahead – a perfect match to BMW’s philosophy of doing business.
“We look forward to playing a major role in its continued development through to 2014.”
On Sunday, the 2010 edition of the BMW PGA Championship was won by Simon Khan, after a brilliant finishing round of 66 strokes. It was the biggest final-day comeback in the history of the event as the Englishman had been seven shots off the lead going into the last 18 holes. Khan, ranked number 471 in the world before the event, had not won on The European Tour for six years and was included in the Championship field just a few days ago (thanks to a sponsor’s invitation. He holed a 20 foot birdie putt on the last to distance Luke Donald and Fredrik Andersson Hed by a shot. “It just means everything, today, this week”, he said. “This tournament is the reason I started playing golf, and just to be here was unbelievable”.
Angel Cabrera won in 2005, the first year BMW partnered the event, and since then David Howell, Anders Hansen, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Paul Casey have all triumphed. They followed in the footsteps of an impressive roll call of past champions including Peter Alliss, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Tony Jacklin, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, José Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam.
There have been 38 BMW events on The European Tour International Schedule, including this year’s BMW PGA Championship – 21 BMW International Opens, seven BMW Asian Opens, six BMW PGA Championships, two BMW Russian Opens and two BMW Italian Opens.
For further enquiries contact Neil Gray at GMS on +44(0)1438 718399 or email [email protected]