LONGWOOD, Fla. (Oct. 9, 2018) – Insurance Office of America today announced it has partnered with Diamond Resorts to sponsor the LPGA Tour’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions and has been named its official insurance broker.
The inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Presented by Insurance Office of America will be the season opener for the LPGA Tour and brings qualifying LPGA winners from the 2017 and 2018 seasons to compete on Jan. 17-20, 2019, at Tranquilo Golf Club at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando.
“We’re pleased to partner with Diamond Resorts and to sponsor the LPGA Tour’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. This is our first LPGA event after years of sponsorship of the Symetra Tour in three different cities,” said IOA Chairman and co-founder John Ritenour. “Being part of an event where there is strong competition, camaraderie, fun, and support for the game aligns with IOA perfectly. We feel it’s important to invest in these promising young professional women players, and we look forward to seeing their growth and the growth of the event in the future.”
In addition to qualifying players, the roster of invited sports and entertainment celebrities includes Ray Allen (two-time NBA Champion), Brian Urlacher (eight NFL Pro Bowl selections), Roger Clemens (seven-time MLB Cy Young award winner), as well as TV actors Alfonso Ribeiro and Jack Wagner. The LPGA champions will play 72 holes of stroke play with no cut and compete for $1.2 million in official prize money, while the celebrities compete utilizing a Modified Stableford format for their own $500,000 purse.
All four days of the unique event will be nationally televised live with Thursday and Friday on the Golf Channel and Saturday and Sunday on NBC.
“Insurance Office of America is an active supporter of women’s golf, and we are excited to be partnering with them to take this incredible event to new levels,” said Mike Flaskey, chief executive officer of Diamond Resorts. “The Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Presented by Insurance Office of America has so many unique elements – an exclusive field of some of the LPGA’s strongest players, world-class celebrities, and unparalleled entertainment – all in Orlando’s backyard. It will be an event no one will want to miss.”
Insurance Office of America is a recognized insurance broker providing risk management to the professional and collegiate sports industry. In addition to serving as the insurance broker for the LPGA Tour’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, IOA’s portfolio of clients includes the NFL, NBA, NHL and AHL.
Insurance Office of America (IOA) is a full-service insurance agency founded in 1988 and one of the fastest-growing independent agencies in the United States. IOA is ranked 13th on Insurance Journal’s 2018 Top 100 Independent Property/Casualty Agencies report and 23rd on Business Insurance’s 2018 100 Largest Brokers of U.S. Business list. Headquartered in Longwood, Florida, part of the greater Orlando community, IOA has more than 1,000 associates located in over 50 offices in the U.S. and London. For more information, visit www.ioausa.com
