PRESTIGIOUS JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT GETS NEW NAME
37th Annual Trusted Choice® Big “I” Junior Classic to Feature Top Young Players
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., May 17, 2005—One of the nation’s premier junior golf events takes on a new name this year, as Indiana gears up to host the 37th edition of the newly minted Trusted Choice® Big ‘I’ Junior Classic.
The tournament is co-presented by the Tiger Woods Foundation, and Allied Insurance is the premier Host Committee sponsor for this year’s championships.
The event’s new name recognizes the more than 4,500 Trusted Choice® agencies across the country. These agencies provide the characteristics consumers say they want in an insurance counselor—choice of companies, customized coverages and advocacy support.
“We are thrilled to lend our name to this terrific junior golf event, which gives young golfers a chance to play in a high-level national tournament against quality competition from all across America,” says Ronald A. Smith, CPCU, Trusted Choice® Board chairman and president of Smith, Sawyer & Smith Inc., a Rochester, Ind.-based independent agency. “This high-caliber event is terrific for the kids and at the same time is a great way to get the Trusted Choice® name and message in front of consumers.
“Consumers are responding positively to the Trusted Choice® message of choice, customization and advocacy,” continues Smith. “We see this partnership as another way to touch consumers with our important message.”
Formerly the Independent Insurance Agent Junior Classic, the national finals tournament will feature fields of 108 boys and 54 girls, ages 13-18, from all over America who are currently qualifying through local- and state-level tournaments. The national finals will take place July 31 through August 4 at the renowned Kampen Course of the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex on the campus of Purdue University.
The annual event features many of the nation’s leading teen golfers; Tiger Woods twice won the event in the 1990s, and his niece, Cheyenne Woods of Phoenix, is among the players who have committed to play at this year’s classic. Also playing will be Kevin Tway of Edmond, Okla., son of PGA golfer Bob Tway and a former Big “I” tournament champion. Both Cheyenne Woods and Kevin Tway finished in the top five in their respective divisions at last year’s tournament at Dornick Hills Country Club in Ardmore, Okla., and earned exemptions into the 2005 tournament fields.
Alina Lee of Evans, Ga., is the defending girls’ champion, and Ji Ho Moon of Ellicott City, Md., won the boys’ division last year.
This year will mark the fourth time that Indiana has hosted the event, which was first played in 1969 in Columbus, Ind.
“We are extremely pleased that an event which began as a community-service project put together by independent insurance agents in 1969 is now one of the leading junior golf tournaments in America,” says Bob Bramlett, Trusted Choice® Big ‘I’ Junior Classic national chairman. “It is an honor and privilege to provide such a high-caliber event for so many talented young people, and we are also very pleased that the tournament is returning to Indiana, where it got its start.”
More than 8,000 boys and girls compete nationally to earn a spot in the finals—a 72-hole, stroke-play tournament. Additionally, more than 2,000 independent agents help organize and administer the state and local qualifying tournaments that determine the final fields of 108 boys and 54 girls. Participation in the Trusted Choice® Big “I” Junior Classic national finals is open to any junior golfer whose 19th birthday does not occur prior to the end of the national tournament, and who has not started college. The boys compete for the Robert Trent Jones Trophy, and the girls vie for the Mayerstein Trophy.
This year’s tournament takes place at the Kampen Course, which features an exciting layout by legendary designer Pete Dye. It was opened to the public in 1998 and since then has earned acclaim as one of Indiana’s premier public courses, as well as one of the nation’s leading collegiate golf courses. The course has hosted the Big Ten Conference golf championship and also hosted the 2004 NCAA men’s golf Central Regional championships.
The Trusted Choice® Big “I” Junior Classic is coordinated each year by more than 2,000 members of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers. The Big “I” represents a network of more than 300,000 member agents and agency employees throughout the country. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
Trusted Choice® agencies are the smart way to buy insurance and financial services. Trusted Choice® agents represent multiple insurance companies, so they offer a variety of coverage choices and can customize a plan to meet your specialized needs.
Go to www.TrustedChoice.com and click on “Find a Trusted Choice® Agent” to find the right agency for your needs.
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