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May 17, 2007
PGA TOUR announces new Las Vegas host organization PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The PGA TOUR
today announced that the Shriners Hospitals for Children will become the new charitable host organization for the TOUR's Las
Vegas event. The change is effective immediately. The 2007 event, part of the TOUR's Fall Series, will be played October 8-14
and will feature a new name, Frys.com Open benefiting the Shriners Hospitals for Children. The event again will be contested
at TPC Summerlin and TPC The Canyons.
The Shriners Hospitals for Children succeeds the Las Vegas Founders Club as the tournament's host organization, a role
the Founders Club has performed since the tournament's inception in 1983.
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of facilities in North America that provides superior medical care at no charge
to children under the age of 18. The first Shriners Hospital opened in Shreveport, La., in 1922, and the network today encompasses
22 hospitals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said, "We are absolutely delighted to welcome Shriners Hospitals for Children as the
new host organization in Las Vegas. Shriners Hospitals are known throughout the world for the outstanding medical services
and support they provide to children and their families. They will be an ideal, involved partner in driving significant awareness
and charitable support for the Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children, and will increase the impact we have
in the Las Vegas community.
"At the same time, we'd like to thank the Las Vegas Founders Club for its involvement and support since 1983," Finchem
said. "We sincerely appreciate the efforts they have made over the years to stage a high quality TOUR event while also generating
over $10 million for Las Vegas-area charities."
"This new association with the PGA TOUR holds many exciting possibilities for Shriners Hospitals for Children," said Ralph
W. Semb, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Children. "The PGA TOUR's charitable initiatives are an ideal
match with the values and purpose behind the Shriners Hospitals, and we're convinced that this relationship will be mutually
beneficial for our organizations and will raise the profile of our efforts to help children with serious orthopeadic, burn
or spinal cord injuries."
Frys.com became title sponsor of the tournament in 2006.
"We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Shriners Hospitals for Children," said John Fry, co-founder of
Frys Electronics. "One of the main objectives behind Frys' sponsorship of the PGA TOUR's Las Vegas event is to raise money
for worthy charities. The Shriners Hospitals for Children have been helping needy children for 85 years and we are happy to
have the opportunity to work with them in those efforts."
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