US golf’s PGA Tour has announced a new sponsor for its top-tier Championship Series as it continues to lay down the foundations of its recently announced two-tiered competitive structure.
Under a multi-year deal, global insurance organization Sompo Property & Casualty will sponsor a PGA Tour event in 2027 at Silverado Resort, California, before switching to sponsor a Championship Series event at another course when the competition is launched.
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Dhruv Prasad, PGA Tour chief commercial officer, said: “Just a few weeks after we announced our new competitive model, we are delighted to welcome Sompo as the first new sponsor supporting the PGA Tour Championship Series that will launch in 2028.
“We look forward to debuting this partnership in Napa in 2027 and are excited to announce its future home in a new market for the PGA Tour in the coming months.”
James Shea, chief executive of Sompo Property and Casualty, said: “This partnership represents a major opportunity for Sompo to further expand our global brand awareness and showcase the strength of our business to customers, partners and communities around the world.
“As a multi-year sponsor of the PGA TOUR Championship Series, we are pleased to support a premier platform that reflects the same values of excellence, discipline and high performance, as well as a sense of responsibility to give back to our communities.”
The sponsorship deal comes a month after the PGA Tour announced its plans to establish a new two-tiered competitive structure from the 2028 season onwards, featuring the top-tier PGA Tour Championship Series and the second-tier PGA Tour Challenger Series, with promotion and relegation between the two competitions based on performance.
The Championship Series will be comprised of 23 to 24 annual events, including the sport’s four majors, and international team competitions such as the Ryder Cup and President’s Cup.
Aimed at pitting the golfing world’s top players against each other more often, the Championship Series events will boast a purse of at least $20 million.
By comparison, the Challenger Series will be composed of “at least” 20 tournaments, with purses of at least $4 million per event, at least seven of which will be staged on Championship Series off weeks and, as such, will boast increased exposure, prizes, and benefits.
Earlier this week, the PGA Tour unveiled its first events that will fall under the Championship Series, with the first to be the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut, one of eight $20 million signature events on the PGA Tour.
It joins the other confirmed events including the Sompo-backed event (named yet to be determined), the Players Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Tour playoffs.
The PGA Tour said tournament names, venues and dates, as well as the complete 2027 Championship Series schedule, will be announced soon.
The PGA Tour’s other signature events from the 2026 season are likely candidates to join the Championship Series calendar, including the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational (LA), Arnold Palmer Invitational (Orlando), RBC Heritage (South Carolina), Cadillac Championship (Miami), Truist Championship (Charlotte), Memorial Tournament (Ohio).
