Savannah Golf Championship brings new twists in 2020

Playing golf. Golf club and ball. Preparing to shot

January 13, 2020 at 10:22 AM EST - Updated January 13 at 10:47 AM

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -The 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season is now underway! The first tournament started on Sunday in the Bahamas.

The countdown to the Savannah Golf Championship will now to quicken with the Korn Ferry event at The Landings in March. Korn Ferry replacedWeb.comas the tour’s title sponsor.

Tournament officials try to add something every year and have some new plans for year three, including an expanded spectator and hospitality venue at Schooner Cove, the popular fifth hole at the Deer Creek course. Fans will now be able to watch from pavilions along the fairway there that will be right on top of the action.

In addition to bringing golf’s up and coming stars to Savannah, the Savannah Golf Championship plans to enhance entertainment opportunities for fans all around the course.

“We try to make sure that all of our fans have an experience and something to do while they’re here,” said Cheyenne Overby, the tournament director of the Savannah Golf Championship. “This year, adding the venue at Schooner Cove, that’s intentional, some of our fans don’t want the all-inclusive experience on 18. Some want to be over there. And so, we have a fan zone that 's going to extend out from where the family fun zone was. You’ve got putt putt in there, you’ve got Leopold’s in there doing ice cream. We’ve got a new craft corner venue this year that’s going to have just our Savannah craft beer available in there and TVs if people want to want March Madness while they’re out here. So, it’s all about us thinking and listening to our fans, what do you guys want and how do we make that a reality for you.”

A question that many have about the event in 2020 is the status of the title sponsorship as the third year of a five-year contract in Savannah begins.

After many meetings with the Tour and local business partners, that might be the latest twist for the Savannah Golf Championship: an alternative sponsorship format that they think will work.

“Our market, we might not have a traditional sponsor,” Overby said. “That’s something a lot of tournaments are looking at. We might keep Savannah Golf Championship in our name, which would be a lot of fun to always have the city in the name. So, we’ve announced something called a proud partner and proud partners were created to split up the investment of what a traditional title sponsor would be. That way, we can still get to where we need to be to make sure we can keep professional golf in savannah, but we’re also allowing a better opportunity that fits our market better and our partners and what they need. we do have two now that have signed on and our goal is to get to 10 before the 2021 tournament. So, just announced in November and it’s been moving pretty quickly. So, sponsorship, the community has been great, our business market has supported us incredibly. So, we continue to chip away at that and we feel really good about that.”

The Savannah Golf Championship moves back to the week before the Masters this year and will be played April 2nd through 5th at The Landings Deer Creek Course.

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Photo: Getty Images


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