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Lee Westwood Tees Off National Golf Championship with The Financial Times and Anglo Irish Bank
Thursday 6th March - Financial Times Anglo Irish Bank Business Championship 2008 Today Anglo Irish Bank announced a three year co-title sponsorship of the UK's most prestigious Business Golf Championship, run in association with the Financial Times. The bank also announced Lee Westwood as a brand ambassador for the Golf Championship, underlining the distinguished nature of the event.

Commenting on the partnership, Lee said: 'It's great to be associated with such a forward thinking event. Golf has a huge impact on business both on and off the course, and the Financial Times Anglo Irish Bank Business Championship is a great opportunity for managers to network whilst enjoying the game.'

Golf is big business, being worth an estimated £ 500m a year in the UK alone*. 93% of business people agree that golfing with a business associate is a good way to establish a closer relationship, while 80% said they find golfing a good way to make new business contacts*.

Declan Quilliagan, UK chief executive, said: 'We are delighted to be the co-title sponsors for the Business Golf Championship for the next three years. This will be a high profile event, attracting business leaders throughout the UK, making it an ideal fit with Anglo's target markets. We are also greatly looking forward to having Lee Westwood as the brand ambassador.'

Ben Hughes, Global Commercial Director and Deputy CEO of the Financial Times, added - 'We are delighted to be partnering with Anglo Irish Bank for the first time, building on the success of previous year's Championships. The Championship has always proved to be extremely popular, and we hope that our clients and readers will take advantage of this great opportunity to play on some of the finest golf courses and also take advantage of the unrivalled networking opportunities.'

The Financial Times Anglo Irish Bank Business Championship starts in May and involves 13 of the best courses throughout the UK and Ireland, including Royal Birkdale, Sunningdale, Portmarnock Golf Club and Gleneagles.

Teams of four enter the event and play in a better ball pairs format, each pair with another business. The winning team from each qualifying event takes part in the expenses paid final, at the Oceanico Faldo Course, Amendoeira Golf Resort, Algarve, Portugal. The finals will be televised by Setanta Golf.

Lee Westwood enjoyed a fantastic year in 2007, winning The Quinn Direct British Masters and the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia, raising his European tour titles to 18. He is now the joint second most prolific English winner. Lee has already got his 2008 golfing year off to a good start with good performances in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Qatar Masters.

*Source: Mintel

**Source: Attitudinal study of more than 400 managers and high earners entitled ?Golf and the Business Executive?, by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

Photo Captions:

Lee Westwood, event ambassador, launches the 2008 Financial Times

Anglo Irish Bank Business Championship.

Declan Quilligan, CEO UK of Anglo Irish Bank and Lee Westwood, event

ambassador, launch the 2008 Financial Times Anglo Irish Bank Business

Championship.

on 2008-03-06