Four-Year Agreement in Place for 2016-19; Golf Channel to Televise
CLYMER, NEW YORK – The PGA TOUR and Erie, Pa.-based LECOM Health (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine) announced today that LECOM will become the title sponsor of a new Web.com Tour event at Peek’n Peak Resort in western New York, entering a four-year agreement that begins in 2016.
The LECOM Health Challenge will be played at Peek’n Peak’s “Upper Course” July 4-10, 2016, with a similar timeframe anticipated for the 2017-19 tournaments. A weeklong schedule of events will include a Pro-Am on Wednesday, July 6, followed by four official rounds of tournament competition July 7-10, with a tournament purse of $600,000.
“We are excited to partner with the PGA TOUR’s Web.com Tour to encourage health and wellness,” said John M. Ferretti, D.O, President of LECOM. “There is no better example for highlighting wellness than these young Web.com Tour professionals, who like our LECOM students, put in an extraordinary amount of work to achieve their career goals.”
Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC) will serve as the host organization of the LECOM Health Challenge. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund, as well as other charities in Chautauqua County and the nearby greater Erie, Pa. area.
“While LECOM offers one of the most affordable tuitions in the nation, students still graduate with significant indebtedness,” said Ferretti. “We greatly appreciate that the LECOM Health Challenge promises to help these students by providing scholarship dollars from the tournament proceeds.”
“It is with great enthusiasm and excitement that we announce the PGA TOUR and professional golf are returning to Chautauqua County,” said Kevin Sanvidge, CEO of Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation. “This truly is Chautauqua County on the move. Six months ago, Vice President of Marketing Michelle Turner moved economic development in a new direction. Her first assignment was to contact the PGA TOUR and in a very short time, she has brought this magnificent event to fruition.”
Golf Channel will televise all four rounds in high definition in the United States. The tournament will be available in another 192 countries and territories, having a potential reach of 93 million households via the PGA TOUR’s international broadcast operations.
“It has been a pleasure collaborating with three top-notch organizations the last few months – the PGA TOUR, one of the most respected professional sports organizations in the world, LECOM, the nation’s largest medical college, and Scott Enterprises, owners and operators of several award-winning properties, including our host venue, Peek’n Peak Resort in Clymer, N.Y.,” Turner said. “Joining forces with the CREDC, all four have made a commitment to western New York and Chautauqua County. With this collaborative effort, we will be able to continue to grow and strengthen our economy.”
“From the moment we purchased Peek’n Peak Resort in 2011, it was a desire to bring the PGA TOUR back to the Peek,” said Nick Scott, Sr., President & Owner of Scott Enterprises. “We had a lot of work to do to bring the Resort up to new higher standards. We have accomplished our goals with the golf courses and the facilities onsite and are now ready to showcase the ‘new’ Peek’n Peak Resort. It is a pleasure to work with the PGA TOUR, LECOM and the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation to create a memorable tournament and create new economic vitality to our region.”
The Web.com Tour previously conducted tournaments at Peek’n Peak Resort from 2002-07. Current PGA TOUR champions who competed at Peek’n Peak during their Web.com Tour careers include newly-minted Open Champion Zach Johnson, FedExCup champions Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, and PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner.
“The Web.com Tour enjoyed six very good years in the western New York/Erie, Pa., area not so long ago,” said Bill Calfee, President of the Web.com Tour. “We return in 2016 with a new team of partners committed to having a significant charitable and economic impact on the area, and providing new PGA TOUR memories courtesy of the next generation of golfers who will be walking in the footsteps of Zach, Brandt, Bill, Bubba, and others. We look forward to getting started immediately with our partners, LECOM, the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation and Peek’n Peak Resort, and then making a splash upon the Web.com Tour’s return next July.”
The Web.com Tour is “The Path” to the PGA TOUR, with all 50 PGA TOUR cards for the following TOUR season annually coming through the Web.com Tour. Since the Tour’s inception in 1990, it has graduated 356 golfers to the PGA TOUR, with alumni winning 414 TOUR titles, including Johnson’s Open Championship and Jason Day’s win at the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday.
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ABOUT LECOM
LECOM Health is an academic health system focused on one goal: bringing better health to everyone you care for, at every stage of their lives. The nation’s largest medical college, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), Millcreek Community Hospital and the Medical Associates of Erie clinical practices are the core of the only Academic Health Center in the osteopathic profession. Together they are preparing the next generation of physicians, pharmacists and dentists and meeting the challenges of bringing a lifetime of wellness to those who matter most to you.
ABOUT PEEK’N PEAK
Established in 1964, Peek’n Peak Resort, in Clymer, N.Y., is a regional destination for golf and snow sports 30 minutes east of Erie, Pa. The resort features two highly acclaimed golf courses, 27 ski slopes and trails, 10 miles of cross country terrain, an exquisite day spa, fine dining, aerial adventure course, giant dual ziplines and a vast selection of accommodations and other amenities. Peek’n Peak Resort was purchased by Scott Enterprises in August 2011.
ABOUT THE WEB.COM TOUR
Founded (1990), owned and operated by the PGA TOUR, the Web.Com Tour continues to identify those players who are ready to compete and win on golf’s biggest stage. In 2013, the Web.com Tour became The Path to the PGA TOUR with all 50 available PGA TOUR cards coming through the Web.com Tour and the season culminating at the four-event Web.com Tour Finals. Web.com became the Tour’s umbrella sponsor on June 27, 2012. A 10-year agreement (through 2021) is in place. The Tour completed its 25th year of competition in 2014. Three out of four PGA TOUR members are Web.com Tour alumni. Tour alumni have won 414 PGA TOUR titles, including 20 majors and five PLAYERS Championships. The PGA TOUR, through the efforts of its tours and their tournaments, sponsors, players and volunteers, surpassed $2 billion in charitable giving in Jan. 2014. To learn more about the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour and to follow the season-long quest for a PGA TOUR card, visit PGATOUR.COM, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
ABOUT WEB.COM
Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:WWWW) provides a full range of Internet services to small businesses to help them compete and succeed online. Web.com is owner of several global domain registrars and further meets the needs of small businesses anywhere along their lifecycle with affordable, subscription-based solutions including website design and management, search engine optimization, online marketing campaigns, local sales leads, social media, mobile products, eCommerce solutions and call center services. To get more information, visit www.web.com; follow Web.com on Twitter @webdotcom or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/web.com. For additional online marketing resources and small business networking, please visit Web.com’s Small Business Summit.