The PGA Tour's invitational tournament at Colonial Country Club may have found a new title sponsor in Charles Schwab.
According to a Dallas News report, the financial management firm, which is opening a new $100 million campus in the Ft. Worth, Texas area, is deep in talks with host Colonial Country Club to take over as title sponsor of the event in 2019. The Dallas News member source cautions the negotiations are not finalized, but the club is hopeful to be able to announce a deal in time for the event's media day on April 23, when reigning champion Kevin Kisner is formally added to the club's wall of champions.
The event at Colonial was renamed the Ft. Worth Invitational for 2018 after a consortium of four businesses -- American Airlines, AT&T, XTO Energy and Burlington Northern -- stepped in to fund the tournament and its record $7.1 purse. However, the group, which included American Airlines, cautioned it would be a single-year deal.
The need for an emergency group of sponsors arose when upscale food seller Dean and DeLuca reneged on their title sponsorship after two years of a six-year deal.
Schwab is already intimately involved with the PGA Tour, serving as the title sponsor of the Charles Schwab Cup, the PGA Tour Champions' season-long points race and playoffs.
With the PGA Championship set to move to May beginning in 2019, it's expected the PGA Tour will clear space for the PGA of America by splitting up the Texas two-step of the AT&T Byron Nelson and Colonial, with the Nelson going the week prior to the new second major of the year and Colonial the following week.
