Photo: Sebastian Kahnert, Getty Images
Tournament rights are difficult. The European tour that becomes the DP World Tour is a way, through a lot of money, for Dubai Ports to formalize and legitimize the Emirati’s connection and association with Europe and the rest of the world. But others, like Web.com and Korn Ferry, bought naming rights to increase their brand exposure and name recognition.
This was definitely true for Symetra. Let’s face it: if you had not received your insurance through Symetra, you would probably never have heard of it until the company sponsored the Symetra Tour, the Road to the LPGA.
This is not true of the latest entrant to the field. The LPGA announced on Wednesday morning that Epson, one of the oldest and most respected office equipment brands, has taken over as the new title sponsor for the development tour. What was the Symetra Tour is now, and will be for the next five years, the Epson Tour.
“It’s great to have a global brand look at what we’ve done and say, ‘This is something we want to be a part of,'” he says.
