BY AAGD STAFF
(January 14, 2020) —This Saturday will be one like none other at Torrey Pines when the PGA Tour and Farmers will provide a platform for the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA), a minority-focused golf tour, to play alongside some of the world’s greatest players at the upcoming Farmers Insurance Open.
In a step forward for diversity in professional golf, Farmers Insurance and the PGA TOUR, along with the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour (APGA Tour) have announced the formation of a new event, the APGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open.
This January 23-26, the new alliance kicks off as the AGPA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open will be part of the annual PGA TOUR stop at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California. Contested on Torrey Pines South Course during Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open, the 27-hole APGA Tour parallel tournament will be played simultaneously by 16 of its players on the North Course.
The AGPA Tour is an 11-year-old, minority-focused pro golf tour which has helped develop a number of PGA TOUR members, including 2020 U.S. Presidents Cup Team member Tony Finau, who currently holds 15th in the world rankings, and Harold Varner III, who came in T3 at the 2019 Northern Trust. Presented by Lexus, the APGA Tour features eight professional tournaments with prize and bonus money. But many of its players have never played on a PGA Tour-quality course, and have no experience with thousands of onsite spectators, millions of TV viewers and massive gallery that goes with it.
Ken Bentley
“Our mission from the beginning was to bring greater diversity to the game of golf,” said Ken Bentley, CEO of the APGA Tour, a member of the Board of Governors of the TGR Foundation (formerly the Tiger Woods Foundation), as well as the Chairman of Fire Insurance Exchange (a member of the Farmers Insurance Group). “This event will help put a spotlight on those efforts, and I want to commend Farmers Insurance and the PGA TOUR in joining us. You see Tony Finau, Harold Varner III, Joseph Bramlett and others on the PGA TOUR but there are nearly 50 African Americans and other minorities playing great golf on our tour. With continued success, we expect to see a number of them on the PGA TOUR in the future.”
The APGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open will feature the top 10 members in the 2019 Lexus Cup Bonus Pool, five sponsor exemptions and one amateur in the 27-hole competition. The winner will participate in a championship ceremony hosted by Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey. What’s interesting is, at Torrey Pines, the first hole of the South Course runs side-by-side with the 10th fairway of the North Course. And if the timing is right, Tiger Woods—who was the inspiration for many of the APGA Tour players—may be within sight distance to offer an encouraging nod or glance to the APGA Tour players.
“We’ve always said the Farmers Insurance Open is about so much more than golf,” said Dailey. “As an organization that celebrates diversity and inclusion, we’re proud to be able to host the first-ever APGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open and help the APGA Tour further its mission of inclusivity in the game of golf.”
“Being a part of this as the first PGA TOUR event to host an APGA TOUR event in conjunction with our event is exciting for us,” said Marty Gorsich, CEO of The Century Club of San Diego, the non-profit organization which operates the Farmers Insurance Open. “The APGA Tour is doing great work to promote diversity in the game of golf, and we have a platform that can help amplify their message and create awareness of their efforts. It’s a win for all parties involved.”
The PGA TOUR’s involvement with the event is part of a larger strategic partnership with the APGA Tour that dates back to 2012. Over the years, Farmers Insurance has used the North for a Saturday pro-am that benefits Century Club of San Diego charities. It will still do so, but the APGA tournament will go out first at 7 a.m. on that Saturday.
The competitors will break for lunch after 18 and play nine more holes to determine the champion. APGA usually stages 36-hole events, but daylight limited the opportunity, and the tour is supplementing its visit to San Diego with a 36-hole tournament at the Crossings at Carlsbad early in the Farmers Open week.
“We believe it is important for golf and its participants to reflect society as a whole and we’re excited to help showcase the APGA Tour’s level of talent in conjunction with the Farmers Insurance Open,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, with whom Bentley pitched the APGA Tournament idea. “We look forward to broadening our partnership with the APGA Tour in the coming year and beyond in support of their mission of providing competitive opportunities to talented players from diverse backgrounds and to help further the interest, growth and development in golf among minorities,” continued Monahan.
Regular APGA Tour events traditionally feature fields of 40-plus golfers competing in multi-day competitions at prominent courses, including the APGA Lexus Scottsdale at the TPC Scottsdale (AZ) Champions Course. Bentley, a retired vice president of community affairs for Nestle who lives in Los Angeles, founded APGA in 2010 to provide more pro playing opportunities for minorities. Though still small, the tour has grown from three events with a total purse of $40,000 to eight pro tournaments, along with a college event, with combined prize money of $250,000. View the APGA 2020 tournament schedule at https://www.africanamericangolfersdigest.com/advocates-professional-golf-association-2020-schedule.
About Farmers Insurance
“Farmers Insurance®” and “Farmers®” are tradenames for a group of insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 5 million households with over 15 million individual policies nationally, through the efforts of more than 45,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 20,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange®, the largest of the three primary insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2019 Fortune 500 list.
For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.
About APGA Tour
The Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting up to eight tournaments awarding $250,000 in prize money annually, the APGA conducts the Charlie Sifford Player Development Program to aid young minority golfers.
