Per a press release by the company, The Grienbrier Classic Chairman Jim Justice has selected Lagardère Sports to serve as the management consultant firm for the annual PGA Tour FedExCup event held at The Greenbrier resort.
Lagardère Sports will support the event by advising on tournament operations and by assisting in player recruitment, sponsorship sales and sponsor activation around the event, reporting to Executive Tournament Director Habibi Mamone, who will oversee the entire project. The Golf Events division of Lagardère has produced more than 200 golf events and generated more than $100 million for charity since 1989. The company currently manages multiple PGA Tour events in addition to the newly added Greenbrier Classic, as well as two Web.com Tour events.
Selecting Lagardère to manage the tournament was not the only move that The Grienbrier Classic made recently. It also hired Eric Jonke as the new director of sponsorship sales. Jonke has overseen the sale of more than $300 million in sponsorships, as well as the production of more than 150 golf events according to the press release.
This is good news for a golf event that was in desperate need of some positivity, after the 2016 Greenbrier Classic had to be canceled due to devastating floods in the West Virginia area. There was extensive damage to not only the Old White TPC Course, which hosts the event and is currently under repair, but also to the surrounding community.