feature Recently, Casey Wilson sat down with Tom Kidd, Chief Executive Officer of Armada Sports and The Golf Championships for an interview….The Golf Championships are comprised of the Million Dollar Invitationals and the World Putting Tour Championships. The MDIs are televised on CBS Sports in 2012 and 2013. Q: What are the Golf Championships? A: The Golf Championships is an umbrella brand developed by Armada Sports, which is the parent sports marketing company. The Golf Championships are a series of unique niche competitions in the sport of Golf known as the Million Dollar Invitationals, the World Putting Tour Championships, and a new series we are developing for 2013 known as the Celebrity Challenges.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the creation of these unique events? A: Golf as a sport has grown in corporate sponsorship and prize money for the major tours over the past decade, but I think that the game has struggled to attract the interest of the main population to grow the game at a grass roots level. Indeed, the industry has commenced a number of initiatives to grow the number of individuals taking up the game and the major influencers in the sport have supported this effort over the last few years. Golf needs a” breath of fresh air” to generate the interest of a wider audience for the sport and as a result thereto, greater participation. The Golf Championships we believe are that breath of fresh air that will contribute to generating the interest required to grow the game and to the over all financial well being of the golf industry for the future.
Q: How is The Golf Championships positioned to achieve that objective? A: The Million Dollar Invitationals are competitions designed for all golfers, not the major players in the game. The competitions are nine hole shootouts, where 10 players start on the 10th tee, and one player is eliminated each hole until there is only two players left on the 18th tee. The winner of that hole wins one million
R. Thomas Kidd CEO Armada Sports & The Golf Championships
dollars. We believe that we have combined the best of reality television with sport, in that these competitions are a combination of “Survivor” and Golf, or “American Idol” and Golf.
Q: I can see the comparison to “Survivor”, with 10 players starting and only one surviving to earn the million dollar check at each event, but how are the golf events like “American Idol?” A: We have a very unique model in that a player is typically sponsored into the competitions. Any golfer who wants to compete can register online at our website www.thegolfchampionships.com. Once they are registered, then we determine if they are qualified through a vetting process, which includes playing ability
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Florida Golf Central • Volume 13, Issue 1