Bridgestone named America’s Golf Cup title sponsor

Bridgestone is to be title sponsor of the inaugural America’s Golf Cup, which will take place at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 20 and 26 October. Upon announcing the deal, Bridgestone described the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup as an “important platform” for advancing golf in the Latin America region and a venue for promoting the company’s product portfolio.

The America’s Golf Cup is a team format event supported by PGA Tour, and will feature members of PGA Tour Latinoamérica competing alongside PGA Tour stars such as Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero. The tournament format will be two-man teams playing Four-Ball (Best-Ball) over 72 holes, with a maximum of 36 teams in the field. Six of those teams will be pre-determined by invitation, while the additional 30 teams will come from the PGA Tour Latinoamérica Order of Merit.

Woods and Kuchar have committed to represent the United States, while Ángel Cabrera and Andres Romero will represent Argentina. No other PGA Tour members will be invited to compete. “Having a world-class sponsor like Bridgestone coupled with world-class golfers like Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero makes for a world-class event in Latina America,” said Lisandro Borges, CEO of the America’s Golf Cup. “This will be a unique and unprecedented experience for everyone involved and promises to further develop the game of golf in the region.”

“We are pleased to provide our members with an opportunity to play an event as special as this one,” added Jack Warfield, president of PGA Tour Latinoamérica. “The Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup complements the work we currently do in the region in that it will provide PGA Tour Latinoamérica members an opportunity to prepare for the higher levels of professional golf. This championship will be a wonderful event to help promote our players, our Tour and golf in the region.”

Offering a purse of US$600,000, the America’s Golf Cup will be an unofficial money event, with players’ earnings not counting towards the PGA Tour Latinoamérica Order of Merit and the season-long race for Web.com Tour cards. The cut-off date for PGA Tour Latinoamérica member qualification is 12 October, following the TransAmerican Power Products CRV Mazatlan Open. The countries currently eligible to participate at the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup are Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Spain, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, the United States and Uruguay. Qualified players will select their partners from the PGA Tour Latinoamérica Order of Merit.

“We believe the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup will serve as an important platform on which the Latin America region can continue to advance the game of golf and all of its benefits – those that include healthy lifestyles, improved economic development, and world-class attention,” said Gabriel Asbun, president of Bridgestone Latin America Tire Division. “More importantly for our company, an event that captures leading athletes and exemplifies top performance is a venue through which we want Latin America to know our leading products ranging from all types of tyres to golf and other sporting goods, as well as building products.”

Bridgestone’s other golf commitments includes sponsoring the Bridgestone Invitational at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, US and its status as official tyre of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour through 2018, while Bridgestone Golf, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., manufactures golf balls, clubs and accessories. Bridgestone is represented on the golf course by a number internationally famed golfers including, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III, Nick Price, Brandt Snedeker, Karrie Webb and Paula Creamer. Bridgestone Golf, the number one ball fitter in golf, is also the industry leader in live launch monitor fittings.