Blog: Champions Tour season off to fantastic start

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Mar. 2, 2009
By Mike Stevens, Champions Tour President

Editor's note: Mike Stevens became the Champions Tour President in June 2008 after serving in several roles on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour since 1997. Before joining the TOUR staff 11 years ago, Stevens spent 18 years in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and was once the Tournament Director for the Verizon Heritage. Stevens will periodically write blogs for PGATOUR.COM about the Champions Tour.

START OF 2009 SEASON: When I look at the first three events, we've had an outstanding start. We had a new title sponsor at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and it was a great event. The title sponsor was extremely pleased with its inaugural effort in terms of customer recognition and branding, and we had a great champion in Bernhard Langer.

Mike Stevens

Then, we followed that up in Boca Raton with the Allianz Championship. They had MASSIVE crowds, one of the best fields we've ever had in the history of this Tour and had a storybook ending with Mike Goodes.

Next, we went down to Naples, Fla., at the ACE Group Classic, with larger crowds, great local support and a veteran winner in Loren Roberts. It shows that, despite a loss like The Ginn Championship, our sport is in very good shape.

SPONSORSHIP SITUATION: For a golf tour that started in 1980 with four events, we sure have come a long way. We're doing really well. The economy is impacting every major sport and you're going to have wins and losses.

The commitment by our sponsors and tournaments, though, is terrific. We renewed or replaced 11 title sponsorships in 2008, during a bad economic time. All this bodes well to the value that is placed in our product. The tournaments that are with us now, even in this economy, are able to provide a commitment to the Tour through their investment and, more importantly, are able to continue to generate charitable dollars for the communities they serve. Last year, our tournaments were part of the TOUR-wide initiative that gave $124 million to charity.

COME TO PLAY: We're delivering value, there's a good interest in the Champions Tour, and the marquee value of the players is probably the best it's ever been. When the fan couldn't get close to these golfing legends while they were in the peak of creating their legendary status, now they can literally become a friend of a legend.

That just doesn't happen in other sports. We provide an environment that puts stars in a forum where they interact with the fans. We want them to interact with the fans, and they recognize the need to do so in order for us to further our success. It's truly the perfect dynamic in sports. We've had great success with our current Fan Features program, and will continue those as well as coming up with new and exciting ideas.

That's our charge -- to take successful platforms and build upon them while creating new and exciting programs that will attract the fan and allow them even more access. The good news is that the players are completely on board and anxious to help in anyway they can.

LOOKING AHEAD: I'm very encouraged by the remainder of the season. Our growth will continue and our presence as a major player in golf should continue as well. The caliber of players we have turning 50 and have already committed to joining us is outstanding. There's Fred Couples, who almost won on the PGA TOUR a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, Tom Lehman, Bob Tway, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger, just to name a few. All these guys have publicly said they're excited to come out and play.

No other sport has been able to replicate an experience where you extend your basic core product, the PGA TOUR, to the Champions Tour and allow them to still compete. They are demonstrating their capabilities in the heat of competition at a very high level. And, on the occasion when they are eligible for a PGA TOUR event, they often go back and are extremely competitive, e.g. Bernhard Langer at last year's PLAYERS Championship (T15), Fred Funk winning at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in 2007 and Craig Stadler back in 2003 with wins on both tours.

So, I'm excited to see the season play out and look forward to see who will be clutching the Charles Schwab Cup at the end of the year.

-- Mike