Business executives from across the nation will travel to Rhode Island in late June and gather with employees, clients and potential business partners at the CVS Caremark Charity Classic, one of the most anticipated golf tournaments in the region and a major corporate draw.
About 400 companies are expected to attend the golf tournament, held June 22 to 24. The event, hosted every year at the Rhode Island Country Club by homegrown PGA Tour professionals Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon, draws top PGA talent and legends that have included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player over the years, offering companies a unique opportunity to entertain clients, network and promote their products and brands.
Perhaps most important, the charity golf tournament offers corporate sponsors an opportunity to support a multitude of good causes, said Joe Mediate, a sales executive with Peter Jacobsen Sports, an Oregon-based sports production and marketing business contracted by CVS Caremark to run the tournament.
Since its inaugural event in 1999, the CVS Caremark Charity Classic has raised more than $10 million for charity, including $1.7 million last year.
“Charities are really the people that benefit from this,” Mediate said.
With charitable fundraising as the ultimate goal of the tournament, Peter Jacobsen Sports organizes the event to allow for as much corporate participation as possible, Mediate said. The 35 private, canopied suites available to corporate sponsors along the course’s 18th hole rival the number of tents at the U.S. Open, he said.
A range of sponsorship levels enables companies of all sizes and budgets to use the golf tournament as a venue for an enjoyable corporate outing, Mediate said. At the highest end, “super platinum,” sponsors that pay $120,000 receive a private hospitality suite with 30 admissions per day, 100 tickets for any day of the three-day event, five VIP admissions, one clubhouse, six reserved, and 30 public parking passes, and 20 sponsor golf shirts.
At the other end of the spectrum, “bronze” sponsors that pay $3,500 receive four sponsor admissions, 12 tickets for any day of the tournament, two reserved parking passes and two sponsor golf shirts.
“We have sponsorship levels for everybody, so everybody can be involved in the event and have a good time,” Mediate said.
Sponsors at the higher levels also get varying ticket packages and access to a handful of private golf outings and parties that occur before and throughout the tournament, including the Pepsi Pro-Am, the Coca-Cola Am-Am, the Classic Clambake and the Dinner Gala, which will be held this year at The Breakers in Newport.
Higher-paying sponsors also receive advertising benefits that include television spots, special signage at the tournament, full-page ads or listings in the fan guide and a listing on the sponsor board at the tournament entrance.
Now in its 10th year, the CVS Caremark Charity Classic becomes a bigger draw for corporations as its stature grows each year, Mediate said. Last year, women competed for the first time in the tournament and drew as many fans as the leaders. Last year’s tournament also had seven international players – the most in its history.
Last year’s CVS Caremark Charity Classic raised $1.7 million for nearly 100 local nonprofit organizations, including the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Bradley Hospital, Brain Injury Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of Providence, City Year, Golf Foundation of Rhode Island, Make a Wish Foundation of Rhode Island, March of Dimes, Meeting Street, Rhode Island Family Shelter, Save The Bay, Special Olympics of Rhode Island, Spurwink RI, San Miguel School, Sojourner House, Teaberry Knoll Academy of Therapeutic Riding, Teen Action Group, The Learning Center for the Deaf and Volunteer Center of Rhode Island.
The field of players last year included Billy Andrade, K.J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Chris DiMarco, Brad Faxon, Natalie Gulbis, J.J. Henry, Trevor Immelman, Juli Inkster, Peter Jacobsen, Zach Johnson, Sean O’Hair, Jesper Parnevik, Nick Price, Brett Quigley, Dana Quigley, David Toms, Lee Trevino and Camilo Villegas.
Organizing and staging the tournament is a year-round job for the six Peter Jacobsen Sports employees who staff the firm’s Rhode Island office, Mediate said. Working out of offices at CVS Caremark headquarters, Peter Jacobsen Sports manages all aspects of the event – securing PGA players and corporate sponsors, preparing the Rhode Island Golf Club course for the tournament and setting up the tents and arranging the tournament’s side events, including the Dinner Gala.
“It’s a lot of work,” Mediate said. •
