Saturday, March 13, 2010
It’s never good to see a good friend go; but in this case I’m glad Buick pulled the plug on their tour sponsorship. The PGA has just confirmed that Buick will pull their name off the Buick Open and Buick Invitational and go back to the most important issue of all: rebuilding the GM brand.
I’ll be honest, I was beyond frustrated when I read Tim Rosaforte’s column last week detailing a potential move by automaker that would have seen them drop their sponsorship of the event in Michigan and keep the Buick name on the Invitational at Torrey Pines.
In my opinion that would have been the most narrow-sighted decision on the face of the planet. I can understand their reasoning for keeping a big event like the Buick Invitational – we all know the kind of field the West Coast events pulls. But to do it at the expense of a tournament in your home state, where your business was born is beyond sad. I’m just glad GM came to their senses and pulled their sponsorship all together.
If you want my take, I expect the Buick Open to leave Michigan and find a home in another state. I couldn’t even venture a guess at this point, but I’m sure someone will pay for their slot. The Buick Invitational will definitely stay at Torrey Pines with a new sponsor. There’s no way Finchem lets one of the biggest events of the season go to another course or state.
In the end you just have to chalk it all up to the wonderful economy. Companies are really struggling to gain their footing at the moment, so it’s not surprising to see another fall by the wayside. And if you’re wondering if I’m shocked to see Buick walk away from the tour, the answer is of course, no.