Viking Range Corporation won’t return as the title sponsor of Mississippi’s …
Viking Range Corporation won?t return as the title sponsor of Mississippi?s PGA Tour tournament, and the state?s premiere professional event has a ?small window? to find a new backer, tournament director Randy Watkins said today.
The tournament, held at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, is in jeopardy of losing its spot on the 2012 PGA Tour calendar if Watkins can?t find a title sponsor or a consortium of sponsors by late September.
?It?s possible,? Watkins said this afternoon when asked if the event could be discontinued. ?Anything?s possible.?
Viking decided last week not to sign onto a new deal, Watkins said. Viking, which manufactures high-end kitchen appliances, has been hit hard by the recession, laying off more than 300 workers since 2008.
The Greenwood-based company has been the title sponsor for the last five years and four tournaments ? the 2009 event was canceled because of rain.
A title sponsor must pledge a minimum of just less than $1 million per year, Watkins said, to sponsor Mississippi?s 44-year-old lower-level tour event, a tournament that?s been played opposite the British Open or in the fall and has one of the smallest purses on tour.
If a new title sponsor is found, it will be the tournament?s fourth different one in 25 years.
Watkins won?t need a title sponsor if he can pool together about eight sponsors to form a consortium. If that?s done, the tournament?s new name wouldn?t include a sponsor.
Watkins has spoken to about five companies interested in being sponsors in someway. He wouldn?t reveal names.
Watkins has an agreement with the PGA Tour to play in July, opposite the Britsh Open, for the next three years, all contingent upon a sponsor or sponsors being found.
The purse for next year?s event will rise $100,000 to $3.7 million. Some of that is subsidized by the PGA Tour.
Chris Kirk, a rookie from Georgia, won this year?s Viking Classic by a shot on July 17, taking home the $648,000 first-place prize.