Inaugural event set to take place at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Volvik and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) announced a new event for the 2016 season – the LPGA Volvik Championship. The inaugural event is set to take place at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from May 26-29.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing the LPGA to Ann Arbor for the LPGA Volvik Championship,” said LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan. “It’s an exciting announcement, one that will be very well received by our players, our TV partners and of course our fans in Southeast Michigan. Volvik continues to be committed to growing all aspects of women’s golf including LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals, LPGA-USGA Girls Golf and the Symetra Tour where they not only sponsor the Volvik Championship but also the Volvik Race for the Card, which gives the top-10 players an opportunity to earn their LPGA Tour cards. Now with their title sponsorship on the LPGA Tour, players will experience Volvik’s support at every level.”
The LPGA Volvik Championship will be held over Memorial Day weekend and will feature a full field of 144 players competing in a 72-hole showcase for a purse of $1.3 million. The event will join the Meijer LPGA Classic, which is hosted in Grand Rapids, as the second tournament on the LPGA Tour schedule in the state of Michigan.
“It has always been Volvik’s goal to be a title sponsor of an LPGA Tour event,” said Volvik USA President Don Shin. “With our extreme growth in the US marketplace over the past three years, sponsoring our LPGA Tour event is the next step in educating the public that Volvik is the fastest growing golf ball manufacturer in the world and that we can add both style and extreme performance to your game.”
Volvik, who signed a three-year deal as the title sponsor of the LPGA Volvik Championship, has been an Official Sponsor of the LPGA Tour for the past five years.
“As the first new global golf brand to emerge in the last decade, Volvik has taken strategic steps to get to this moment,” said Chairman of Volvik INC Kyung Ahn Moon. “We have made a name for ourselves with the help of the LPGA and we want to continue to grow with the LPGA Tour as they continue to be the only professional tour who is growing globally and with a meteoric rise in television rating and attention to their tour. It is our great honor to announce that we are the title sponsor of an LPGA Tour event.”
The LPGA has seen its television more than double to over 400 hours of coverage, expanded to over 150 countries that carry its telecasts each week, and increased the total purse level on Tour from $44 million to over $60 million. More than 17.2 million viewers tuned in to the LPGA Tour on Golf Channel and NBC in 2014.
The idea to bring the LPGA to Southeast Michigan was spurred by local business leader KC Crain and his wife, Ashley, along with tournament director Keith Karbo. The Crains are avid golf fans and with the help of Karbo, an Ann Arbor resident, their vision of bringing an LPGA event to this area while also giving back to the local community has become a reality.
“Golf has always been part of my life, and to bring an impactful event like this to Southeast Michigan is going to be fun and exciting,” said Ashley Crain, who competed on the Golf Channel show Highway 18. “We realize that this will provide a great economic impact for our area, and we are particularly happy to bring awareness to some important initiatives.”
One initiative tied to this Memorial Day weekend event is to create awareness for the services off ered to military families through the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC). The NNDC has a special commitment to aid the mental health of our dedicated military members, veterans, and their families. The University of Michigan NNDC is located in Ann Arbor and houses the innovative Military Support Programs and Networks (M-SPAN). This is a University-Military-VA-Community partnership that provides pre- and post-deployment support.
About Volvik
Volvik is the #1 Color Golf Ball on Tour with over 75 professionals using Volvik’s ultra high-performance color golf balls on the world’s professional tours. Since 2012, players using Volvik golf balls have earned over $8.5 million in prize money on the PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour,Web.com Tour, Ladies European Tour, LAGT and Symetra Tour with 15 victories and over 100 Top 10 finishes.
Volvik has experienced more color golf balls in play on the world’s professional tours than any other manufacturer in the history of golf.
Volvik is dedicated to the production of specialized 3- and 4-piece multi-layer golf balls that feature 41 worldwide patents. In over 30 years of golf ball production, Volvik has developed a reputation based on highly innovative development, quickly becoming one of the most significant and trusted golf ball manufacturers in the world.
Contact:
Jon Claffey
National Director/Sales and Marketing
Volvik USA INC.
Email: jclaffey@volvik.com
Office: 407-649-0013
Fax: 407-649-0015
Website: Volvik.net
Twitter: @volvikUSA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/VolvikUsa
