PGA Championship at Oak Hill

For more than 100 years, PGA of America has hosted the PGA Championship in cities across the nation. As the only all-professional major in men’s golf, the championship features the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Rankings, making it one of the premier events in not only the golfing world, but the sporting world at large.

As PGA of America geared up for its return to Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY, organizers knew they needed local experts who had established relationships with the community, businesses and area dignitaries to help create and maintain buzz. But more than that, they wanted to uphold their charitable mission of leaving the community better than when they arrived.

To meet these challenges and ensure the event left an even greater mark than it did a decade earlier, PGA of America turned once again to DS+CO as its agency of record in Rochester. Not just for our sports event marketing capabilities and delivering an experience, but to create opportunities that make a difference.

With a 15-month window, the DS+CO PR team needed to create unique and purposeful touchpoints we knew would resonate with our region, golf lovers and spectators within a 300-mile radius of Oak Hill. These touchpoints took a number of forms, including:

Awareness
• Announcements for ticket sales: now available, low inventory and the official sellout
• Photo opportunities with the iconic Wanamaker Trophy at Buffalo Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University—with leaders from the PGA and Buffalo Bills joining in

Community Relations
• Connecting the official trophy presentation with local partners, namely RIT’s National Technology Institute for the Deaf, which supported Championship Week with American Sign Language services and 35 volunteer interpreters who enhanced an accessible environment for spectators

Media Relations
• Coordinating press conferences with the PGA and various local leaders, including the county executive, town supervisor, Monroe County sheriff, and local fire, police and EMS partners
• Managing onsite media relations during championship week, hosting media scrums with important and timely updates, crisis communications counsel, and close collaboration with PGA leadership and area officials
• An exclusive outing with 20 top members of local and regional media at the prestigious Oak Hill Country Club

Experiential PR + Events
• Activations and photo opportunities for fans and media promoting the Wanamaker Trophy tour
• Hosting a “PGA Championship Night” with the Rochester Americans hockey team
• On-site event support for the PGA Secretary’s Cup (veteran event), a Buffalo Bills visit with Josh Allen at the PGA WORKS Beyond the Green event (diversity initiative) and a formal ceremony with sports commentating legend Jim Nantz

As work progressed, we never lost sight of PGA of America’s goal of improving the communities it enters. So when PGA REACH, the charitable arm of PGA of America, designated money with the county to build a new golf course in Genesee Valley Park, we made sure it was given the attention it deserved.

Leaning on the trust we had established over our 10-year PR and social media partnership with the PGA of America, DS+CO helped make the 2023 PGA Championship an undeniable experience. In total, we garnered more than 87 million impressions across a 300-mile radius throughout the campaign. And when all was said and done, the PGA of America had celebrated another record-breaking experience—and another point of pride for the Rochester region.