KA'UPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii >> Following in the spike marks of the Mercedes Championship, Sony Open and Senior Skins, MasterCard International announced yesterday it will remain the title sponsor for another six years. MasterCard signs
on for 6 yearsBy Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.comThe winners-only event is currently held at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Hualalai Golf Course on the Big Island, which will be the site of this tournament for at least another four years.
"MasterCard has been a very strong partner of both the Senior PGA Tour and the PGA Tour for a number of years now," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "We appreciate its continued support of the MasterCard Championship, which the players thoroughly enjoy competing in each year.
"It's a wonderful tournament to launch our season. As evidenced by this announcement, MasterCard and the Senior Tour have a mutually beneficial relationship."
After the agreement was made official at the 18th green, winner Tom Kite said jokingly, "It's a bad break having to come back here for six more years."
The MasterCard Championship features winners of the Senior PGA Tour major championships over the last five years and winners of Senior Tour official money co-sponsored and approved tournaments from the last two years.
A sponsor exemption category for the 2002 championship was added for Senor Tour members who have a minimum of 40 Senior PGA Tour/PGA Tour combined career wins (Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino). MasterCard assumed sponsorship of the event in 1997. It has been on the Senior Tour schedule since 1984.
"As the kickoff event of the Senior PGA tour season, the MasterCard Championship is one of the crown jewels in our golf portfolio, providing numerous opportunities to leverage the event with our global partners," said John Stuart in a press release. He is the senior vice president of Global Sponsorships and event marketing. "The Senior Tour professionals have been especially forthcoming in the treatment of our business partners, helping turn this tournament sponsorship into a platform for building our business."
Wire-to-wire winner: Kite became the third wire-to-wire winner in MasterCard Championship history with his victory yesterday. John Jacobs, who finished second, was the last to accomplish that feat in 1999. The other wire-to-wrie winner was Peter Thomson in 1985.
Kite's six-stroke victory was just one shy of the all-time record of seven strokes by Orville Moody in 1984 and George Archer in 1990, but it was the largest since Dr. Gil Morgan beat Gibby Gilbert by six strokes in 1998. Kite was the only player this year in the 54-hole event to post three consecutive rounds in the 60s.
Holes of contention: The most difficult hole at this year's event was the par-3 fifth with an average score of 3.253. It was the toughest hole last year as well.
The easiest this year was the par-5 fourth with an average score of 4.424. There were six eagles and 47 birdies on the hole and only two bogeys. They were both carded yesterday by Hubert Green and former Big Island resident Steve Veriato, who finished in 30th with a three-day total of 221, some 22 shots behind Kite.