DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., February 23, 2010 – The LPGA’s Developmental Tour, the Duramed FUTURES Tour, and CHAMP Spikes have renewed a long-standing agreement that makes CHAMP the official golf spike on tour for over a decade. Under the agreement, CHAMP will provide spikes to all tour members and will continue its in-season competition, the “Last CHAMP Standing.”
“We are pleased and honored to partner with CHAMP, The World Leader in Sport Cleat Technology®,” said Nancy Henderson, Chief Operating Officer for the Duramed FUTURES Tour. “Our long standing relationship is directly related to the exceptional service and quality of CHAMP spikes. Their spikes help our professionals to perform at the highest level.”
The “Last CHAMP Standing” competition is a season long event designed to reward Tour players wearing CHAMP spikes with CHAMP points, based on their tournament finish each week. The first ten tournaments of the year will serve as the preliminary competition, with the resulting top 16 Tour players on the CHAMP point list qualifying for the Sweet 16 CHAMPions Match-Play Round. Each week thereafter, players will go head-to-head in single-elimination 9-hole match play competition with the final two players squaring off for an 18-hole match play competition at season finale in Albany, N.Y., in September. The winner will take home the $2,500 first prize “Last CHAMP Standing” check.
This is CHAMP’s 11th year as an official sponsor of the Duramed FUTURES Tour. In addition to the “Last CHAMP Standing” competition, CHAMP will have its logo displayed on tournament signage and on the Duramed FUTURES Tour Mobile Office trailer that travels to every tournament as well as a direct link between www.champspikes.com and www.DuramedFUTURESTour.com.
“We are very excited to extend our partnership with the Duramed FUTURES Tour as they are a vital part of our marketing plan,” said Harris MacNeill, President and CEO of CHAMP / MacNeill Engineering. “Our goal is to provide players with equipment they can wear comfortably and confidently, while also providing them with the traction they need to reach the next level.”
The Duramed FUTURES Tour will bring the world’s top young women golfers to 17 events in 2010. The 30th anniversary season of the Tour will feature a purse of nearly $2 million as well as its first full-field international event, to be held in Mexico. The schedule includes 16 returning tournaments, to be held in 13 states, in addition to Mexico. For the first time in the Tour’s history, all stops on the Tour will boast purse amounts of $100,000 and over.
About CHAMP Spikes
CHAMP is the premiere brand of MacNeill Engineering Worldwide, which has been designing and manufacturing athletic footwear components since 1931. The Company has been a pioneer in cleat technology since it introduced the world’s first locking spike: SURE-LOK. Since then, MacNeill Engineering has grown to be The World Leader in the Sport Cleat industry with revolutionary offerings which include the new CHAMP Zarma®, the CHAMP Q-LOK® System, the CHAMP TRI-LOK® system, as well as the most complete line of innovative spikes in the world, including the CHAMP ScorpionSTINGER™ spikes and CHAMP ScorpionSpike®.
About the Duramed FUTURES Tour
The LPGA’s developmental tour, the Duramed FUTURES Tour, enters its 30th competitive season in 2010. The Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best young women professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. The top 10 money winners each season earn automatic memberships on the LPGA Tour for the following season. With more than 500 alumnae moving on to the LPGA, former Duramed FUTURES Tour players have won a total of 353 LPGA titles, including 37 major championships. The Tour is playing for a record season purse of nearly $2 million in 2010. Duramed FUTURES Tour events have contributed more than $4.65 million to charitable organizations throughout the nation since 1989. Follow the Duramed FUTURES Tour on the web at DuramedFUTURESTour.com, Facebook.com/DuramedFUTURESTour, Twitter.com/Road2LPGA, and YouTube.com/Road2LPGA.
Contact:
Joely Pique
Public Relations Manager
Duramed FUTURES Tour
386-290-7174
joely@duramedfuturestour.com
Molly Meade
Public Relations Consultant
Meade Consulting
617-678-6778
molmeade@macneillusa.com
