Company says next tournament will be their last as title sponsor.

 

AT&T has announced that it will once again sponsor the AT&T Champions Classic Golf Tournament, held at the Valencia Country Club since 2001.

 

Running March 9th -15th, 2009, the event will again bring some of the biggest names in golf to Santa Clarita as part of the Champions Tour.

 

AT&T took over the entitlement name for the tournament in 2006, although by the close of the 2008 tournament they had not opted to resign.

 

Executive director of the AT&T Champions Classic Brian Fitzgerald said that they have been very happy with the tournament, but are also ready to move on.

 

“AT&T is very proud of this tournament, in particular how it has grown through the years,” he said. “We are now ready to pass the baton on to someone to pick up what we have built, along with the club and the community, into a quality Champions Tour event for the professional players, the Santa Clarita Valley, and the greater Los Angeles area.”

 

[view:node_ad=5]The tour is no stranger to intense golf action. Two years ago Tom Purtzer battled through a four hole playoff to finally grab the victory, and last year it took Denis Watson three playoff holes to secure his place as the defending tournament champion.

 

The AT&T Champions Classic serves as one of Santa Clarita’s biggest tourism events of the year, and the City is working to keep the tournament local beyond next year.