Simmons Bank announces golf sponsorship of 4 Korn Ferry Tour players

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) May 1, 2020 9:04 am 1,334 views 

Pine Bluff-based Simmons Bank announced Friday (May 1) it has signed multiyear sponsorship agreements with Korn Ferry Tour professional golfers Will Zalatoris, Braden Thornberry, Kevin Dougherty and Dawson Armstrong.

Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed. The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the PGA Tour.

Simmons Bank announced in February the company has assumed title sponsorship of the Korn Ferry Tour stop in Nashville, Tenn., renamed the Simmons Bank Open for The Snedeker Foundation. The event was scheduled this week, April 30 – May 3, with 156 players competing for a $600,000 purse. It was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the cancellation, Simmons Bank also announced Friday Drive, Putt, Do Good, a new initiative to help offset the charitable fundraising component for the Snedeker Foundation that was eliminated with the event’s cancellation. Simmons Bank will make a $50 donation to the Snedeker Foundation for every birdie Zalatoris, Thornberry, Dougherty and Armstrong make. The Snedeker Foundation, founded by PGA TOUR player and FedEx Cup winner Brandt Snedeker and his wife Mandy Snedeker, supports a variety of charities.

To further increase the charitable contribution to the foundation, Simmons Bank will also make a donation for every birdie Snedeker makes this year.

Tournament play on the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour is set to resume on June 11.

“Now, more than ever, with the Nashville Korn Ferry Tour date canceled, it’s important for us to continue our support so that both the players and the charity can thrive,” Freddie Black, chief business development officer for Simmons Bank, said in a statement. “These players have all demonstrated that dreams are realized through hard work, focus and dedication, characteristics that drive our business as well. Supporting these players so they can achieve their own dreams, and, at the same time, help raise money and awareness for the Snedeker Foundation is vital and fits with our mission of Dreams Realized.”