Another hit for golf: Ginn withdraws its sponsorships

The economic downturn cast two more tournaments into an uncertain future Wednesday when Ginn Resorts abruptly ended all professional golf sponsorships.

The real estate company says it no longer will host or produce its two remaining events — the LPGA's Ginn Open and the Champions Tour's Ginn Championship. LPGA star Cristie Kerr was also a casualty, as Ginn dropped sponsorship of the last player wearing the company's apparel.

Ginn's latest move comes on the heels of last year's decisions to end its sponsorship of the PGA Tour's Ginn sur Mer Classic and to buy out of a multiyear contract for another LPGA tour event, the Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam.

"We're disappointed and surprised by their actions," PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said about Ginn's latest decision. "We have a contract with them through 2011, and we were in discussions with them concerning ways to modify the contract and to assist them. And in the end, we were given no notice of their actions other than to see it in a press release."

Losing the Ginn Open would figure to be a major hit to the LPGA — the event's $2.5 million purse was the third-largest on tour in 2008, behind only the U.S. Women's Open and the Evian Masters.

Ginn's contract with the LPGA tour for the Ginn Open was through 2009. If the tournament is not replaced or restructured quickly, the LPGA tour will offer 30 events this year, down four tournaments from last year. The losses also mean a drop of nearly $7.5 million in prize money that was available last year. LPGA officials were in meetings Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

"We have worked diligently with many others for several months to find solutions to our predicament with respect to these professional golf tournaments," said Robert Gidel, president and CEO of Ginn Development Company. "We did the best we could, but the economy got the best of us with respect to the tournaments."

The news about Ginn's decision to end its relationship with professional golf reverberated throughout the golf community, including PGA Tour players at the FBR Open in Arizona.

"There's some concern, for sure" about the future of professional golf, veteran Mark Calcavecchia said. "Things are tight for everybody, including Ginn and all the other huge companies. I mean, I think we're lucky to have the sponsors we have out here. My concern now, being 48 and a half years old, is how many tournaments are going to be left on the senior tour in a couple years.

"But I think the PGA Tour is going to be fine. We have a good product out here, but it's a concern. I think everybody is a little bit worried about it. I don't know how worried (commissioner) Tim Finchem is, but he doesn't outwardly come out like we're in danger too much."

While Votaw said it's hard for anyone to predict the future, he said the Tour is in good shape.

"We've always said than in any recession there is sponsorship turnover, but we have protected ourselves to deal with it," he said. "And we have to work hard to replace sponsors if we do lose them. And the players and our organization understand that."