The PGA Tour is starting to fill in the Championship Series portion of its 2028 schedule with a pair of announcements this week, one of them a surprise.Sompo, a multinational insurance holding and financial group that is part of Japan-based Sompo Holdings, will be the title sponsor of one of the premier events on the 2028 schedule that will have $20 million purses and the top tier of players.Sompo will get started next year at a familiar place — Silverado Resort in Napa, California, where Scottie Scheffler won the 19th and final edition of a fall event in 2025. But it won’t be staying there when the tour shifts to its “Championship” and “Challenger” tracks in 2028.The 2027 tournament will be July 29 to Aug. 1 — two weeks after the British Open — and televised by CBS on the weekend. Still to be determined is the name of the tournament and, of greater interest, the new market for 2028 and beyond. That will be announced later.
The PGA Tour is eager to hit larger markets where it doesn’t have a regular presence, such as Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and New York.James Shea, the CEO of Bermuda-based Sompo Property & Casualty, said the partnership is a “major opportunity for Sompo to further expand our global brand awareness and showcase the strength of our business to customers, partners and communities around the world.”On Monday, the tour announced the Travelers Championship outside Hartford, Connecticut, would also be part of the Championship Series. That was expected. The Travelers has been one of the highest performing tournaments during the FedEx Cup era that began in 2007 and has offered $20 million prize funds since 2023.“This has been an extremely successful tournament by every metric,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said last month at the Travelers Championship, where he introduced the concept of the Championship and Challenger series. “I think they do a lot of things that we’re looking for in a Championship Series event.”
