RBC extends sponsorships with PGA Tour
Published
RBC has extended its sponsorship of the Canadian Open and all of golf in this country can be thankful.
The financial institution announced a multi-year extension of its backing of Canada’s national men’s golf championship on Monday, along with the same for the RBC Heritage, a PGA Tour Signature event held in April in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Together, they make RBC one of the largest and most important backers of PGA Tour tournaments.
“We are very happy to recommit to the PGA Tour,” said Mary DePaoli, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer of RBC. “And we are really proud to continue our association with golf.”
The length of the new deal was not revealed.
RBC took over sponsorship of the Canadian Open in 2008. Since that time, the championship has seen extensive growth in attendance, depth of field, and secondary corporate sponsorship.
One of the biggest improvements was working with Golf Canada to negotiate with the PGA Tour for better dates. It had been stuck immediately after the Open Championship. It’s now the week prior to the U.S. Open.
“Golf Canada is extremely proud to celebrate the extension of a tremendous partnership with our friends at RBC as well as the PGA Tour,” said Laurence Applebaum, CEO of Golf Canada.
RBC’s commitment to golf in Canada goes beyond title sponsorships and logos on the
shirts of top players. It supports RBC Community Junior Golf programs across the country through First Tee, programming that provides youth with affordable and inclusive access to golf; the RBC Scramble, a grass-roots event that gives everyday golfers from across the country a chance to be national champions in a team event; the Canadian Golf Foundation, the CPKC Women’s Open and Golf Canada’s national team program, which helps to develop top young amateur and professional players. Past members of
this program include the likes of Nick Taylor and Brooke Henderson.
In short, without RBC, golf in Canada would be in a much different place – both at the grassroots and elite level.
“RBC means everything to Canadian golf and the growth of the Canadian Open,” said Corey Conners, Canada’s top-ranked male golfer. “I am proud to have them as a long-standing partner and grateful for how dedicated they are to the PGA Tour.”
“We have never been satisfied with just putting a logo on something,” said DePaoli. “We really do care. We want something that is mutually beneficial for all parties.”
The deal with the PGA Tour didn’t come easily. RBC agreed to two one-year extensions from the end of its previous sponsorship deal, which expired in 2023, when the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were knocking heads. The financial institution wisely wanted to ensure the PGA Tour had a clear plan for its future if it was going to commit long term.
Some of the Tour’s initiatives directed at getting feedback from fans and moving events in that direction were important, said DePaoli. So were the television audience numbers of tournaments that show impressive growth, with the RBC Heritage last year seeing a whopping 42 per cent increase and a healthy 16 per cent bump for the RBC Canadian Open.
Next year’s RBC Canadian Open returns to TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley starting June 11