LPGA faces 2025 sponsorship challenges as Cognizant steps away from Founders Cup

Cognizant will no longer sponsor the LPGA Founders Cup, Golf week confirmed. Three years ago, Cognizant announced its arrival on the golf course by partnering with the LPGA and the PGA Tour simultaneously. The United States-based information technology services company immediately doubled the Founders Cup purse to $3 million, boosting the event’s purpose of honoring the legacy of the tour’s 13 founders. At the time, the Founders Cup boasted the largest purse on tour outside of the majors and the year-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

“We are very grateful for our partnership with Cognizant and the support they have given our athletes for the past three years,” the LPGA released in a statement. Golf week. “We look forward to providing more information about the 2025 Founders Cup as well as other exciting news about the 2025 LPGA Tour season, including new events and record purses during the CME Group Tour Championship.”

With the tour celebrating its 75th anniversary next season, there’s no doubt the Founders Cup will have a place on the LPGA schedule next year. Golf week learned that one possibility is to move it from New Jersey to Florida, where the LPGA’s Drive On event was held in Bradenton last January. Nelly Korda’s hometown win came in a match against Lydia Ko at the Bradenton Country Club. The LPGA sponsored the event and may do the same for the Founders Cup until a new sponsor is found.

Also: How Nelly Korda’s streak of five consecutive LPGA wins ranks in golf history

If that’s the case, the Founders Cup purse of $3 million would be less than the Drive On event’s $1.75 million. Rose Zhang won this year’s Founders Cup and received a check for $450,000.

Cognizant began its journey with the PGA Tour as a Global Partner for the Presidents Cup through 2026. The company also sponsors the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic (formerly the Honda Classic) at PGA National.

“While Cognizant’s sponsorship of the LPGA Founders Cup has ended, our commitment to bringing together global brand awareness campaigns with a strong voice to promote diversity and inclusion through world-class events is continuing.” It is for sports and leagues that remain unchanged,” Cognizant said. Golf week in a statement.

“We began our partnership with the LPGA by doubling the prize pool, which at the time made the Cognizant Founders Cup the LPGA’s largest prize pool outside of the majors and the Tour Championship. We are proud of the impact it has made and the platform we have helped support the next generation of women golfers.Our partnership with The John Shippen Cognizant Cup demonstrates our continued commitment to driving diversity and inclusion in the sport, honoring the techniques, and supporting the growth of Black golfers.

Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan created the Founders Cup in 2011 with a purse – in other words, the players were not paid. All the money went to charity. Not everyone appreciated the idea. Comments, he once said, ranged from: “Just tell me when and where I’ll be there” to “Did you slip and fall?”

Karrie Webb won the inaugural event, and there were three founders that week: Shirley Spork, Marilynn Smith and Louise Suggs.

Marlene Hagge Vossler was the last survivor of group 13. She died in May 2023 at the age of 89.

The LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program is a primary beneficiary of the Founders event, raising millions over the past twelve years to empower the next generation. There is no doubt that the vision of Whan, which started as a note on a hotel curtain, has become one of the shining lights of tourism.

Other events with question marks surrounding them include the Ford Cup in Arizona. Ford originally signed up for a one-year contract as a title sponsor through 2024 and negotiations are ongoing, sources say. Golf weekabout the size of the company’s participation in 2025.

The LPGA’s Portland leg, which continued this year without a title sponsor as the Portland Classic, is the longest-running non-major tournament, dating back to 1972. Aditi Ashok, the only Olympian who played it in Portland this summer. before going to Paris, he said he did so in part because it might be the last time he would play there. The event was also without a title sponsor in 2023.

The LPGA is expected to release its full schedule for the CME Group Tour Championship next month. Another new event that was announced last year is the Black Desert Championship in Utah, which will reportedly have an eye-popping purse. The PGA Tour’s Black Desert Championship was held two weeks ago at the Tom Weiskopf designed Black Desert Resort and offered a purse of $7.5 million.