Greg Norman’s global Tour might still be a few years off, but a professional co-ed tour is closer than ever following Friday’s announcement that the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour have agreed to a “written strategic alliance agreement designed to further promote the growth of golf.”
The PGA TOUR and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) announced today that they have formalized their longstanding cooperative relationship by entering into a long-term, written strategic alliance agreement designed to further promote the growth of golf. This partnership between the leading men’s and women’s professional golf tours will include areas such as schedule coordination, joint marketing programs, domestic television representation, digital media and exploring the potential development of joint events.
“From our collaboration in bringing golf back as an Olympic sport as joint members of the International Golf Federation to our cooperation in helping to grow the game of golf as part of the World Golf Foundation, our two organizations have had a long history of working together for the common good of our sport,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Extending our relationship with the LPGA into these new areas is a natural extension of this work and collaboration.”
“We believe the PGA TOUR has significant expertise in the areas that we will focus on together and working more closely with them carries with it the very real potential of positively impacting our members, our tournaments, and our ability to grow our sport around the world,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “We look forward to working with the PGA TOUR team to deliver a positive impact for our sport.”
The opportunities are endless for this partnership. The 2014 U.S. and U.S. Women’s Opens at Pinehurst were just the tip of the iceberg. Co-sanctioned tournaments, different style exhibitions, the sky is the limit.
