The Century Club of San Diego is a non-profit corporation organized for the main purpose of administering and promoting San Diego's annual PGA TOUR event, the Buick Invitational. The net earnings of the corporation are used solely for charitable and eleemosynary purposes, including the primary support of the San Diego County Junior Golf Association and for donations to other charities and golf-related activities in the San Diego community.
The Century Club was founded in July, 1961, when tournament officials of the then San Diego Open decided they must have a broader base of support than the single corporate sponsorship previously provided by the San Diego County Chevrolet Dealers Association (1952-54) and Convair (1955-60).
The Century Club was so named because individual memberships were initially priced at $100 each. Under the leadership of the late Frank Alessio, the Century Club entered into a working partnership with celebrity host Andy Williams in the fall of 1967, and beginning in 1968 the tournament was titled the Andy Williams San Diego Open. That same year the club also became a partner with the City of San Diego for financial support from hotel/motel tax funds and the use of Torrey Pines Golf Courses as the home of the tournament.
By 1981, with mounting pressures from the PGA TOUR to increase purse monies and City financial support now withdrawn because of the effects of Proposition 13, the Century Club entered into its first agreement with a corporate sponsor, The Wickes Companies, Inc. In 1983 American Isuzu Motors assumed the corporate sponsorship for a three-year period, and in 1986 Shearson Lehman Brothers (now Shearson Lehman Hutton) entered into a working agreement for corporate and title sponsorship that extended through the 1991 tournament.
Buick Motor Division became the title sponsor of the event in June 1991and have recently renewed their contract to continue to be the title sponsor of the tournament through the year 2010.
When: January 25-31, 2010
Where: Torrey Pines Golf Course
For more information, log onto www.buickinvitational.com