One of just five invitational events on the PGA Tour, the Charles Schwab Challenge wrapped up yesterday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. This year was a milestone for the tournament—its 75th anniversary.
The event is known for the Scottish royal tartan plaid jacket awarded to champions in honor of the history of golf. It was first played in 1946 and won by longtime Fort Worth resident, the late Ben Hogan—the first of five times he would win.
In its third year as title sponsor, Charles Schwab just inked a deal to extend its sponsorship through 2026. It’s an ideal fit for the company, which in January moved its headquarters from San Francisco to a sprawling campus in Westlake, said Mason Reed, senior vice president of retail acquisition and corporate, who heads up golf partnerships for Schwab.
“It’s one of the only tournaments that’s still run by its members,” he said. “It’s a high-touch event for the members who run it, and by extension into the Fort Worth community and the region. We’re a highly engaged sponsor; we have decades of experience, we have a lot of ideas, we have things that we’d like to see happen in the tournament. We work in lockstep with the team here. Our knowledge of the sport, our interest in the tournament, and our level of engagement matches [the members’] passion for the event and the community, and the importance of the tournament, and so it syncs up extremely well for us.”
“Based on our evaluation of how it’s going and a whole variety of success metrics, we see tremendous value out of it,” Reed added.
The Charles Schwab Challenge was the first 2020 tournament to be held after the pandemic put a three-month halt to PGA TOUR events. On the first day of play, Dallas fan favorite Jordan Spieth—who won the event in 2016 and came in second this year—shared his thoughts on what it meant to have the fans back on the course.
“This was a special one last year, even without fans, because it was our first one back,” Spieth said, referring to the Tour resuming at Colonial Country Club after a three-month delay due to the pandemic. “This golf course—there’s normally a very educated fan base here. It’s a very golf-loving fan base. [Hole] 13 can be a bit of a party scene, and it’s obviously people having fun, but it’s a very educated crowd every year here. To have them back and have their support, is … fantastic.”
