Mercedes purse The Mercedes Championships will raise its purse to $5 million in 2003 as part of its new four-year agreement with the PGA Tour and ESPN-TV.
up to $5 million
The winner gets $1 million,
a Tiffany trophy and a MercedesStar-Bulletin Staff
The champion of the winners-only event will pocket $1 million, the traditional Tiffany trophy and the keys to a new Mercedes-Benz SL500 Sport.
"The agreement in principal that we announced during the 2002 Mercedes Championships is now signed and complete," said Paul Halata, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.
"We have an extremely successful tournament in the Mercedes Championships, and we have a group of partners in Kapalua, the PGA Tour and ESPN that are committed to making the tournament even better every year. We look forward to hosting the PGA Tour's opening event for the next four years."
The tournament will be broadcast live for 12 hours in prime time on the East Coast as part of the new agreement.
"We're very pleased that Mercedes-Benz USA has agreed to extend their sponsorship of our season-opening event through 2006," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "Since 1999, when the Mercedes Championships moved to The Plantation Course at Kapalua, the tournament has continued to grow in stature and prestige, due in great part to the terrific partnership that has developed between the tour, Paul Halata and his team at Mercedes, the Kapalua Land Company and ESPN."
The par-73, 7,263-yard Plantation Course has featured dramatic playoff victories by Tiger Woods (2000) and Sergio Garcia (2002) in two of the past three years. Top tour players David Duval (1999) and Jim Furyk (2001) also have won titles since it moved to Maui.