In Sentry, Torrey Pines tournament seems to have found a special sponsor
Officials from Sentry Insurance and Torrey Pines' Century Club sounded like lovestruck teenagers when their relationship was revealed this week.
Torrey Pines' PGA Tour stop will now be known as The Sentry, and there's hopes that the former Farmers Insurance Open can grow into something even greater.
"I couldn't sleep last night, I was so excited to be in front of you and try to convey my excitement," Sentry CEO Pete McPartland said during Monday's announcement at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. "This is a big, big deal for us."
Century Club CEO Marty Gorsich said, "in talking to the PGA Tour, they raved about who Sentry was, not just as a company, but who they were as people. … This is really a group who fits the ethos of the San Diego vibe, of what we're about and I'm excited to not only have them this year but also when we talk about what lies ahead."
But they can't speak yet about what lies ahead, after 2027, because no one really knows.
The situation
The PGA Tour is known to be considering changes to the schedule and structure of events.
The Future Competitions Committee, headed last year by Tiger Woods, allowed the players to weigh in on the competitive side and now decisions are in the hands of the business people. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is among a handful of NFL executives who moved over to infuse the tour with new ideas.
Their intent is to make the tour a global brand, with a focus on the best players playing the best events. Sports Business Journal reported last month that a two-tiered system was being considered, with 23 top-tier events (the four majors, three playoff events and 16 elevated regular-season events) and the remaining tournaments regarded as second-tier events.
Sentry, which sponsored the tournament in Maui since 2018 and is contracted with the PGA through 2035, was among nine "elevated" events with a $20 million purse and top field. The event was canceled last year because of drought conditions and water restrictions in Maui. The 2027 PGA schedule does not include stops in Hawaii, making Sentry a sponsor without a tournament.
Torrey Pines had slipped in status in recent years, with purses about half the size of the elevated events and fields limited in star power as a result. Torrey Pines was a tournament looking for a sponsor after Farmers ended its 17-year run with Justin Rose’s victory earlier this year.
In 2027, The Sentry at Torrey Pines is expected to have a payout and field similar to the Farmers, which had a $9.6 million purse and featured 15 of the top 30 players in the world.
There is optimism for becoming a signature event thereafter, however.
Some clarity could come as soon as June 23, when Rolapp has a news conference scheduled to provide an update.
"I would say we've gone from a very precarious position not long ago, where we didn't even have a 2027 (event) and we didn't have a title sponsor, to suddenly we're great," Gorsich said. "We're full speed ahead.
"We've definitely put ourselves in position to not only being discussed but ideally coming back in that upper tier, with a really great event with the top players and everything that comes with that."
Everything is up for discussion, even changing where the Torrey Pines event falls on the calendar. There has been talk of making it the first event of the year, giving the PGA one of the most picturesque locations in the country for its kickoff.
The San Diego climate also lends itself to being placed virtually anywhere on the calendar the tour deems as the best fit. It would not be unprecedented for PGA players to come to San Diego in the fall - the tournament was played in October and November in the late 1950s - but the front of the schedule seems most appropriate.
‘A Sentry community'
One way or another, Sentry and San Diego appear headed for a long-term relationship.
McPartland has owned a home in Coronado for nearly two decades, living here full-time before being hired at Sentry and relocating to the company's headquarters in Stevens Point, Wis.
During the pandemic, McPartland said he was joined by his son's family in Coronado.
"They stayed there for almost two years," McPartland said. "The boys, now 10 and 12, became rabid Padre fans. So we are all in on San Diego. It is an absolutely fantastic place. No doubt about that."
Sentry was founded in 1904 and has grown into what McPartland calls a Fortune 530 company.
"We're a little over Fortune 500," McPartland said.
It is a mutual company (no shareholders), allowing it to pour profits back into the company and the things it cares about.
"We are running a very large company out of a very small 28,000-person town," McPartland said. "That is central to the personality of the company. We are a community company. We have over 2,000 people in that small town, most of them have grown up in central Wisconsin, and have the values of the upper Midwest."
McPartland tied the people of Stevens Point to those in Maui and also San Diego.
"We identify with the people of Maui as being very similar to people of Stevens Point," said McPartland, adding, "Maui is a Sentry community. And I am here to tell you today that San Diego is a Sentry community. There's absolutely no doubt about that."
Said Gorsich: “We didn't just want to find a sponsor. We didn't want somebody to just slap their name on the tournament. That just doesn't work in the model we have, not to be excellent. We strive for excellence. … We wanted somebody else who embraced what we do here, all coming together to run a great event. I'm very excited to say we are fortunate enough to have found that great partner."
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 4:55 PM.