OMEGA is entering its 10th year as Official Patron and Official Timekeeper of the PGA of America and the PGA Championship this week at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The partnership was announced at the 2011 PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
OMEGA has served as the onsite timekeeper at all PGA Championships since 2011, as well as the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cups held in the United States. Each PGA Championship winner since has been presented with an OMEGA timepiece to recognize his achievement.
“We have been honored to serve as an Official Patron of the PGA of America at the prestigious PGA Championship each year since 2011,” President and CEO of OMEGA, Raynald Aeschlimann commented. “Our partnership with the PGA of America has demonstrated OMEGA’s long-term commitment to support and grow the game of golf.”
Over the 10 years as Official Timekeeper, OMEGA has also supported the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the PGA Professional Championship and the PGA Merchandise Show. OMEGA has worked with PGA Professional Michael Breed to grow the game by hosting clinics and customer events during brand activations at various tournaments.
OMEGA celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing in 2019, with a short film featuring OMEGA ambassador Rory McIlroy filmed the Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.
At the 100th PGA Championship in 2018 in St. Louis, Mo., ambassadors McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Tommy Fleetwood hit a 100-yard, golf-shot at the base of the famous Gateway Arch National Park to kick off Championship week.
The 60th Anniversary of the OMEGA Speedmaster timepiece was observed in 2017 by top-ranked golfers and OMEGA Ambassadors, McIlroy and Garcia. The duo donned astronaut spacesuits taking turns driving a lunar rover around Quail Hollow Club, ending with a stop at the driving range for a friendly long-drive competition to start PGA Championship week in Charlotte, N.C.
That same year, OMEGA hosted the first-ever OMEGA Golf Trophy Finals at Carmel Country Club where 30 guests from around the country enjoyed a competition featuring OMEGA ambassador Michael Phelps. At the OMEGA Golf Trophy awards dinner, Phelps and Garcia surprised guests with their appearance and helped present the awards.
At the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., in tribute to OMEGA’s role as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Phelps and Aeschlimann opened the PLANET OMEGA exhibition with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
McIlroy, an OMEGA Ambassador since 2013, won the 2012 PGA Championship in Kiawah Island, S.C. and the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, K.Y.; Garcia, an OMEGA Ambassador since 2003, finished second at the 1999 PGA Championship and has recorded more than 26 professional wins, including The Masters in 2017. Fleetwood joined OMEGA as an ambassador in 2018, while in 2020 OMEGA brought young star Collin Morikawa to the OMEGA team.