HSBC pull out of sponsorship of

NZ PGA Championship

The New Zealand PGA Championship is searching for a new title sponsor after HSBC decided not to renew its agreement, association chief executive Duncan Simpson.
Europe's biggest bank had been the title sponsor of the tournament for the past three years, but decided against renewing the agreement after a review of its sponsorship portfolio.
Simpson said the news, while disappointing, was not exactly surprising.
"We're obviously disappointed it's come to that, but I guess it does reflect to some extent what's happening around the world," Simpson said today.
Simpson said finding another sponsor at short notice could prove problematic.
"It'll be pretty difficult to find a replacement sponsor at that level - that tournament was a $US600,000 tournament, well over $NZ1 million.
"The reality is, even if we do find a sponsor, it's more likely to come back to a $NZ100,000 to $NZ200,000 tournament, so we're clearly not going to get the quality of field we did with the other one."
The tournament has been co-sanctioned by the US PGA Tour's secondary Nationwide Tour, and Simpson said it was particularly disappointing that this connection could now be in jeopardy.