Mitsubishi Electric Continue Sponsorship with PGA Tour and Secure Funk Deal

The PGA TOUR and Mitsubishi Electric have extended their Official Marketing Partnership and title sponsorship of the Champions Tour’s season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai through 2015, while also completing a deal with golfer Fred Funk in the process.

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is scheduled for January 16-22, 2012, and features an elite field of the past two seasons’ tournament champions and past five years of senior major championship winners.

The tournament, on the Big Island of Hawaii, has been the starting point of the season for the Champions Tour since 1997. During that span, the tournament has made a significant economic and charitable impact on Hawaii’s Big Island community. Almost $650,000 has been donated to various island charities, including $55,000 this year to the Rotary Club of Kona. The funds will assist the Keiki Eye Vision Program to help identify vision difficulties early in a child’s development.

Mitsubishi Electric will also continue to provide the highly popular Diamond Vision LED scoreboards at virtually every PGA TOUR tournament as the Official Large Outdoor Video Display Provider of the PGA TOUR. Rolled out in May 2007 at The PLAYERS Championship, the Diamond Vision boards have significantly strengthened the on-site fan experience with a variety of player and venue information, along with graphics generated by the TOUR’s ShotLink real-time scoring system. The Diamond Vision scoreboards were first used on the Champions Tour at Hualalai in 2009. As part of the new sponsorship agreement, Diamond Vision scoreboards will be introduced at all Champions Tour stops in 2013.

Mitsubishi Electric will continue as the Official HVAC Products of the PGA TOUR and, beginning in 2013, will become the Official Elevator and Escalator of the PGA TOUR. As an Official Marketing Partner, Mitsubishi Electric has and will continue to use select PGA TOUR tournaments for hospitality and entertainment.

Katsuya Takamiya, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric US Holdings, said: “We are pleased to continue our relationship with the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour. Our customers enjoy our relationship with the players and especially The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. We could not ask for a stronger association with an organization, one that demonstrates a huge charitable impact and personal commitment to its sponsors, especially from the Champions Tour.”

As a further commitment to the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating recently announced its sponsorship of Fred Funk, a six-time winner on the Champions Tour. As part of Funk’s sponsorship his golf bag, as well as his right shirt collar, will carry the Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating logo. This additional presence will help Mitsubishi Electric raise awareness of their cooling and heating products among target customers. Funk won the season-opening championship at Hualalai in 2008.