Web.com’s Stadion Classic Retains Title Sponsor & Returns to UGA Golf Course in 2013

Stadion Money Management has announced they will return as the title sponsor of the Web.com Tour pro golf tournament which will also return to the UGA Golf Course in 2013.

“Stadion is proud to once again serve as the title sponsor for the Web.com Tour’s tournament at the UGA Golf Course,” said Jud Doherty, the President of Stadion. “The Stadion Classic at UGA has been a tremendous success and a great opportunity to see some of the best golfers in the world compete right here in Athens. The best part is through the TICKETS Fore CHARITY program almost $310,000 over the last three years has been invested in the Athens community. We hope this year local charities will be able to raise even more.”

“I am pleased that the Stadion Classic will return to the UGA Golf Course in 2013,” UGA President Michael F. Adams said. “This is a great event for a great cause, and it has been embraced by the Athens community as one of the highlights of the spring. I am grateful to the PGA TOUR for its partnership and support of this event.”

The Stadion Classic at UGA will take place April 29-May 5, according to the PGA TOUR.

This will mark the fourth straight year that UGA has hosted the Stadion Classic. The tournament was known as the Athens Regional Foundation Classic from 2006-09. Watkinsville-based Stadion Money Management has been the title sponsor since the event moved to the UGA Golf Course in 2010.

The Stadion Classic at UGA continues to be the only PGA TOUR-sanctioned event that is owned and operated by an institution of higher education. The South Georgia Classic in Valdosta is the only other Web.com Tour event played in Georgia.

The tournament will be operated by UGA’s Auxiliary Services Division. Net proceeds from the event will benefit the University’s need-based scholarship program. Additionally, the Stadion Classic at UGA supports TICKETS Fore CHARITY, which benefits non-profit organizations in communities where PGA TOUR, Web.com Tour and Champions Tour tournaments are held.

The Stadion Classic at UGA has developed into a showcase for the success of the UGA men’s golf program. Twenty-five players with connections to the Bulldogs have teed it up in Athens over the past three years. On the final day the last two years, a Bulldog — Russell Henley in 2011 and Hudson Swafford in 2012 — has held the Stadion Classic at UGA trophy. Henley won the 2011 event as an amateur, becoming just the second man in Web.com Tour history at that time to do so. He had secured his place in the field with one of the two sponsor’s exemptions given to current members of the UGA team with the season’s best scoring averages. Swafford won the 2012 tournament by ending with three consecutive birdies, including a hole-out from a greenside bunker with his final shot.

“The Web.com Tour is delighted to announce its return to the University of Georgia,” Web.com Tour president Bill Calfeesaid. “We’ve enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the University since making the move to UGA in 2010 and, with their leadership and the support of Stadion Money Management, the tournament continues to grow. The UGA Golf Course has become a real favorite among the players. Having Russell and Hudson win the last two years made for some great storylines and did a lot to energize everyone involved with the Stadion Classic at UGA. We think the Web.com Tour has a very bright future in Athens.”