ELMSFORD, N.Y. — The Metropolitan Golf Association and MetLife have signed a three-year agreement which will extend MetLife’s sponsorship of eight MGA Championships and the MGA Calendar of Competitions through the end of 2012. Also included in the agreement is MetLife’s continued sponsorship of three annual MGA/MetLife Junior Clinics and additional MGA Foundation junior golf programs as part of the company’s diversity youth initiatives and community outreach program.

The MGA/MetLife sponsorship agreement dates back to 1981, making it one of the longest-running corporate partnerships in sports. The support provided by MetLife helps the MGA conduct some of the most prestigious golf events in the country, which provide golfers of all ages and ability levels the chance to compete. They range from the Met Open, the Met Area’s premier event with a purse of $150,000 and a list of past winners that includes Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Jim Albus and Johnson Wagner, to the Met Junior ― the nation’s oldest junior championship ― to the popular Men’s and Women’s Net Team Championships, designed specifically to give recreational golfers a true championship experience. Each year these events are held on the Met Area’s top courses and involve more than 5,000 golfers. 

Remarking on the MGA/MetLife relationship, MGA Executive Director Jay Mottola states, “This is a true partnership that provides great benefit for MetLife, the MGA and golf in the Met Area. We are proud to be associated with an organization that does so much to help promote this great game on so many levels.”

MGA championships sponsored by MetLife include:

           Met Open                                                       MGA/MetLife Public Links

             MGA/MetLife Pro-Am                                   MGA/MetLife Boys

             Met Junior                                                       MGA/MetLife Net Team

             MGA/MetLife Pro-Junior                              MGA/MetLife Women’s Net Team

Apart from tournaments, through the MGA, MetLife is a also a proud sponsor of the MGA Foundation’s GOLFWORKS Student Intern program, is a First Tee Core Value sponsor at Mosholu Golf Course in the Bronx, home of The First Tee of Metropolitan New York, and supports the Met Golf Writers Association’s National Awards Dinner. MetLife also sponsors the MGA Calendar of Competitions, which is a vital source of tournament information for golfers all across the Met Area.

About MetLife

MetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance, employee benefits and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

For more information on the MGA/MetLife sponsorship agreement, contact Jeanne McCooey at jmccooey@mgagolf.org or 914-347-4653.