Landers Ford Lincoln Drives it Home for Players!
Landers Ford Lincoln, Inc. will be the Official Vehicle of the FedEx St. Jude Classic and will provide courtesy cars for the 156-player field of golfers for the PGA TOUR event, June 6-12, at TPC Southwind.
The commitment by the Collierville-based dealership follows a long-time appreciation of the tournament, title sponsor FedEx, and the life-saving work being done by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, said Landers president Kent Ritchey.
In addition to supplying cars for the visiting pros, Landers has pledged a minimum donation of $16,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of the arrangement with the FESJC.
Tournament Director Phil Cannon said the importance of being able to furnish cars for TOUR players is a major consideration in tournament hospitality and attractiveness.
“Anytime a Memphis company chooses to align with our event, we are so thankful,” Cannon said. “Providing courtesy cars to the golfers is just another way we can distinguish our event as one of the leading stops on the PGA TOUR.
“Many PGA TOUR events no longer provide cars to the athletes, so when the people at Landers Ford Lincoln stepped forward and offered to help us sustain the perk for the players, we jumped at the chance.”
Cars will be provided for the players as part of an arrangement that will offer financial incentives to Landers customers who purchase the cars as part of a promotional sales campaign. The company plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of each vehicle to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“We’ll make sure that the minimum donation is at least $16,000 and that could go up, depending on our success selling and how quickly we can move that many cars through the (sales) pipeline,” Ritchey said.
Ritchey, who has served on the volunteer sales committee of the FESJC, and Don Kitchens, Landers vice president and managing partner, see the opportunity as a continuation of the company’s wide-spread community involvement in charitable and sports-related interests.
“I have been pushing to get this opportunity for a long time,” Ritchey said. “I used to go out to the tournament and see our competitors’ brands and I always felt a little bit envious. But our main reason we wanted to get involved is like a lot of people – we think what St. Jude does and stands for is just so wonderful . . . it’s hard to put into words.
“We feel this is a way for us to make a significant impact to help the tournament and the hospital.”
Citing the FESJC as a “major league franchise,” Ritchey said, “I’m not naïve enough to think that a pro golfer would come here just because he gets a car, but it’s a perk that they enjoy and a way for us to help the tournament help itself.”
Ritchey estimated that if the tournament had to provide cars for players through normal rental car arrangements, the cost would be about $75,000.
“I’m just not sure the tournament would do that,” Ritchey said.
Ritchey said Landers representatives approached the Ford Motor Company with the idea of becoming the exclusive vehicle provider for the FESJC.
“That many vehicles is a pretty big mouthful for one dealership to ingest,” he said. “But they (Ford) said to benefit the tournament and St. Jude and to partner with FedEx . . . . it just all fit together. So we went to the tournament and said we’ll take on the whole thing if you’ll let us do it.”
In addition to the appreciation and admiration for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Ritchey stressed that the association with FedEx was also a big reason for wanting to get involved with the FESJC.
“We are big admirers of FedEx,” he said. “This tournament is in our backyard, and we’re sandwiched between their two biggest footprints --- their headquarters and their tech center. We’ve admired what they’ve done for this city and county for years.
“And for them to step back into their title sponsorship of the tournament just speaks volumes for their commitment to Memphis and St. Jude.”
Once again this year, Landers will brand the back of all the courtesy cars with a “see-thru” screen featuring the tournament and dealership logos. Landers first introduced these last year, and many other events on the PGA TOUR have copied this idea.
FedEx, which became title sponsor in 1986 and continued through 2006, renewed its title sponsorship of the tournament for this year’s event.
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