PGA Tour’s long-standing Byron Nelson event gets new title sponsor replacing AT&T
Finally, a new sponsor has been secured for the long-running Bryson Nelson tournament on the PGA Tour. The tournament was sponsored by AT&T from 2015 to 2023 and now the South Korean conglomerate CJ Group is the new title sponsor of the tournament.
On Tuesday, September 4, it was announced that the CJ Group will sponsor the competition for the ensuing ten years, beginning in May 2024.
The CJ was also associated with another PGA Tour event named the CJ Cup. It ran the first three editions of the championship which were held from 2017 to 2019 in South Korea before the tournament was relocated to the USA from 2020-22.
Speaking about their new deal, the CJ Group released a statement saying:
"Over the past three years that we've hosted our tournament in the United States, our sales and corporate image in the American market have grown exponentially. We've reached this decision to strengthen our marketing activities in the U.S. We're currently discussing ways to provide opportunities for Korean tour golfers to play at our event."
It is imperative to note that so far three South Korean players have won the Bryson Nelson Championship including Bae Sang-Moon (2013), Kang Sang-Hoon (2019) and Lee Kyoung-Hoon (2021 and 2022).
The next edition of the tournament will be held from May 2-5, 2024 and has a purse of $9.5 million.
Byron Nelson Championship's sponsors over the years
The Bryson Nelson Championship was established in 1944. It was given its name in honor of the late PGA Tour player Bryson Nelson, who also happened to be the first tournament winner.
It was initially called the Texas Victory Open and then was renamed to the Dallas Open. It went through several name changes before finally settling for the Bryson Championship in 1968.
GTE sponsored the event from 1988 until 2000, after which Verizon took over as title sponsor for a period of two years. From 2003 through 2008, EDS sponsored the event before HP took over. It was being sponsored by AT&T from 2015 to 2023.
Here are the sponsors of the Bryson Nelson Championship over the years:
AT&T Byron Nelson
- 2023 Jason Day
- 2022 Kyoung-hoon
- 2021 Kyoung-hoon
- 2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2019 Kang Sung-hoon
- 2018 Aaron Wise
- 2017 Billy Horschel
- 2016 Sergio García
- 2015 Steven Bowditch
HP Byron Nelson Championship
- 2014 Brendon Todd
- 2013 Bae Sang-moon
- 2012 Jason Dufner
- 2011 Keegan Bradley
- 2010 Jason Day
- 2009 Rory Sabbatini
EDS Byron Nelson Championship
- 2008 Adam Scott
- 2007 Scott Verplank
- 2006 Brett Wetterich
- 2005 Ted Purdy
- 2004 Sergio García
- 2003 Fiji Vijay Singh
Verizon Byron Nelson Classic
- 2002 Shigeki Maruyama
- 2001 Robert Damron
GTE Byron Nelson Classic
- 2000 Jesper Parnevik
- 1999 Loren Roberts
- 1998 John Cook
- 1997 Tiger Woods
- 1996 Phil Mickelson
- 1995 Ernie Els
- 1994 Neal Lancaster
- 1993 Scott Simpson
- 1992 Billy Ray Brown
- 1991 Nick Price
- 1990 Payne Stewart
- 1989 Jodie Mudd
- 1988 Bruce Lietzke
Byron Nelson Golf Classic
- 1987 Fred Couples
- 1986 Andy Bean
- 1985 Bob Eastwood
- 1984 Craig Stadler
- 1983 Ben Crenshaw
- 1982 Bob Gilder
- 1981 Bruce Lietzke
- 1980 Tom Watson
- 1979 Tom Watson
- 1978 Tom Watson
- 1977 Raymond Floyd
- 1976 Mark Hayes
- 1975 Tom Watson
- 1974 Buddy Allin
- 1973 Lanny Wadkins
- 1972 Chi-Chi Rodríguez
- 1971 Jack Nicklaus
- 1970 Jack Nicklaus
- 1969 Bruce Devlin
- 1968 Miller Barber