Sixth Major Safe For Now

Ron Green Jr. reports that the Wachovia Championship remains safe for now, though I'm still guessing those excessive player bribes locker gifts and player perks may become a thing of the past. Or at least, toned down considerably.

Thanks to reader J. for this:

Officials said the golf tournament is expected to continue in the future with a contract that carries it through 2014.

“We have a six-year extension and we look forward to continuing the golf tournament,” Mac Everett, the tournament's executive chairman and a former Wachovia executive, said Monday.

PGA Tour officials have been monitoring the Wachovia situation and expect the Charlotte stop to remain on future tour schedules.

“We fully expect the tournament in Charlotte to continue,” said Jon Podany, senior vice president for business development with the PGA Tour said..

“The acquiring company would assume the contract. That's typically the way the contracts work.”

It is still to be determined whether the Wachovia brand would remain on the event while officials at Citigroup and Wachovia work out the details of the transition. With a portion of the Wachovia brand remaining, it's possible the tournament name could remain.

As title sponsor of the golf tournament, which had a $6.4-million purse in 2008, Wachovia spent $3,009,000 on its entitlement fee last year. The PGA Tour pays 62 percent of the tournament purse.

Wachovia also paid more than $3 million for television advertising plus a significant amount on hospitality for clients and guests during the event.

I don't care how massive Citigroup is, I'd stamp this one with a big STAY TUNED.