80 Students from 12 HBCU Schools to Participate in Two-Day, 54-Hole Tournament Alongside PGA Tour Champions Event, October 15-16
HBCU Invitational to Include Special Career Day and Champions Dinner with Tour Legends
CARY, North Carolina – October 10, 2022 – SAS and Octagon today announced a partnership with the Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) to host the inaugural SAS Championship HBCU Invitational as part of this year’s PGA Tour Champions event. The ground-breaking tournament is scheduled to take place alongside the 22nd annual SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, from Saturday, October 15 – Sunday, October 16.
The first-of-its-kind collegiate event will feature 80 students from 12 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) across the country to compete in a 54-hole team competition at the PGA Tour-sanctioned event. Men and women from each of the 12 schools will break up into 16 teams in search of claiming their very own SAS Championship trophy.
In addition to the tournament, the students will also participate in a special SAS Career Day event, “From the Course to the Office,” featuring insightful panel conversations with former HBCU students who now work at the software and services giant. The student-athletes will also join PGA Tour legends for an intimate dinner at the annual SAS Championship Champions Cookout.
Octagon, which has operated the SAS Championship for its entire 22-year history, will coordinate and manage the event.
“The SAS Career Day is an exciting addition to the tournament that aims to inspire curiosity about careers after collegiate athletics,” said Danielle Pavliv, Chief Diversity Officer at SAS. “This experience allows the extraordinary student-athletes from HBCUs to learn about the experiences of SAS employees and HBCU alumni, receive resources to help navigate career options and establish personal connections that extend beyond the tournament.”
The student-athletes participating in the inaugural HBCU Invitational represent 12 HBCU schools, including Chicago State, Florida A&M, Howard, Johnson C Smith, Livingstone, Maryland Eastern Shore, Miles, North Carolina Central, Prairie View A&M, Savannah State, Virginia Union, and Winston-Salem State.
ABOUT SAS:
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW.
ABOUT BCGCA:
The BCGCA is a 501(c)3 that provides student-athletes from around the world with unique opportunities to compete in college golf while developing academic and interpersonal skills to compete in the “real world” on a global scale. The core of our efforts is to bring our team’s fresh ideas and passion to the range of activities we’re involved in. Through all of our endeavors, we hope to display the conviction behind our beliefs.
ABOUT OCTAGON:
Octagon is the preeminent global creative, integrated marketing, and talent management agency in sport, entertainment, and culture. The agency creates distinctive marketing campaigns for some of the largest brands and Fortune 500 companies across the globe and represents more than 900 of the most prominent and influential athletes, talent, and properties in the world.
With more than 1,000 employees worldwide, based in 50 offices in 20 countries, Octagon has consistently pushed the boundaries of the industry with ground-breaking marketing campaigns, experiential and hospitality services, industry-leading data, insight, and strategy capabilities, media expertise, as well as an unmatched talent management portfolio of the most high-profile and successful athletes and personalities.
