LPGA facing 2025 sponsorship concerns as Cognizant steps away from Founders Cup
Cognizant will no longer title sponsor the LPGA’s Founders Cup, Golfweek has confirmed. Three years ago, Cognizant announced its arrival in the golf space by partnering with both the LPGA and PGA Tour at the same time. The U.S.-based information technology services company immediately doubled the Founders Cup purse to $3 million, elevating an event that’s dedicated to honoring the legacy of the tour’s 13 founders. At the time, the Founders Cup boasted the largest purse on tour outside of the majors and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
“We are very appreciative of our partnership with Cognizant and the support they gave to our athletes for the past three years,” the LPGA released in a statement to Golfweek. “We look forward to providing more information on the 2025 Founders Cup as well as additional exciting news about the 2025 LPGA Tour season, including new events and record-breaking purses, during the CME Group Tour Championship.”
With the tour celebrating 75 years next season, there’s no doubt the Founders Cup will have a place on the LPGA schedule next year. Golfweek has learned that one possibility is to move it from New Jersey to Florida, where the LPGA’s Drive On event was held in Bradenton last January. Nelly Korda’s hometown triumph came in a riveting playoff against Lydia Ko at Bradenton Country Club. The LPGA backed that event financially and could potentially do the same for the Founders Cup until a new sponsor is found.
More: How Nelly Korda’s streak of five consecutive LPGA wins ranks in the history of golf
If that’s the case, the Founders Cup purse of $3 million would likely decrease as the Drive On event was $1.75 million. Rose Zhang won this year’s Founders Cup and earned a check of $450,000.
From left to right, LPGA Pioneer Barbara Romack, founders Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs, during the first round of the RR Donnelley Founders Cup.
Cognizant began its journey with the PGA Tour as a Global Partner for the Presidents Cup through 2026. The company now also title sponsors the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic (formerly the Honda Classic) at PGA National.
“While Cognizant’s sponsorship of the LPGA’s Founders Cup has expired, our commitment to dovetail global brand awareness campaigns with a strong voice in promoting diversity and inclusion through world-class sporting events and leagues remains unchanged,” Cognizant told Golfweek in a statement.
“We kicked off our partnership with the LPGA by doubling the prize purse, which at that time made the Cognizant Founders Cup the richest LPGA prize pool outside of the majors and Tour Championship. We are proud of the impact generated and the platform we have helped support for the next generation of female golfers. Our partnership with The John Shippen Cognizant Cup reflects our ongoing commitment to driving diversity and inclusion in the sport, honoring the legacies, and supporting the growth of Black golfers.”
Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan created the Founders Cup in 2011 with a mock purse – in other words, players didn’t get paid. All the money went to charity. Not everyone appreciated the idea. Comments, he once said, ranged from: “You just tell me when and where and I’ll be there” to “Have you slipped and fallen?”
Karrie Webb won the inaugural event, and there were three founders on hand that week: Shirley Spork, Marilynn Smith and Louise Suggs.
Marlene Hagge Vossler was the last survivor of the band of 13. She died in May 2023 at age 89.
The LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program is the primary beneficiary of the Founders event, raising millions over the past dozen years to fuel the next generation. There’s no question that Whan’s vision, which started as a note on a hotel napkin, has become one of the tour’s bright lights.
Other events that also have question marks surrounding them include the Ford Championship in Arizona. Ford initially signed on for a one-year deal as title sponsor in 2024 and conversations remain ongoing, sources tell Golfweek, in regards to the extent of the company’s involvement in 2025.
The LPGA’s Portland stop, which carried on this year without a title sponsor as the Portland Classic, is the tour’s longest-running non-major tournament, dating back to 1972. Aditi Ashok, the only Olympic player who teed it up in Portland this summer before jetting to Paris, said she did so in part because it might be the last time the tour plays there. The event also didn’t have a title sponsor in 2023.
The LPGA is expected to release its schedule in full at the CME Group Tour Championship next month. One new event that was announced last year is the Black Desert Championship in Utah, which will reportedly feature an eye-popping purse. The PGA Tour’s Black Desert Championship was held two weeks ago at the Tom Weiskopf-designed Black Desert Resort and offered a purse of $7.5 million.
