The Colonial Invitational is one of the oldest and most iconic events on the PGA Tour, part of the old “Texas Swing.”
In recent years it has struggled with a not-so-great date on the PGA Tour calendar and a questionable sponsor.
It was tough to figure out how Dean & DeLuca came to be the sponsor for the event played in the hometown of Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. Dean & DeLuca probably thought the same thing and informed the tour that it was bailing out of its sponsorship deal after only two years of a six-year contract. After the lawyers got paid, the event was without a sponsor and in danger of vanishing into thin air.
Now the PGA Tour is trying to keep the 2019 schedule hush-hush until next months Players Championship but reports have leaked out that the tour went into its rolodex to find a familiar name to bail out, er, sponsor the Colonial.
In steps Charles Schwab. Thank goodness the company’s namesake founder loves golf. Schwab’s name is on the Champion Tour’s year-long points race, the old guy equivalent of the FedEx Cup.
So the tour’s not saying, unless it is, that Charlie’s riding to the rescue in Fort Worth.
And that’s good news down at Hogan’s Alley.
