Why FedEx Fred Fred Smith poured hundreds of millions in PGA Tour

Fred Smith, the late visionary who founded FedEx – and who was ultimately responsible for making the company the best corporate partner PGA Tour has ever had – was not a golf boy. nothing

Smith, a great man with a big heart that died on June 21 In 80 of a sudden heart attack, he loved sports – tennis and football in particular. For about 20 years, he was a part of the Washington commanders (and a supporter of the name change). His son, Arthur, is the offensive coordinator for Pittsburgh Stelers. Fred Smith also liked baseball and basketball.

But Golf was never Smith’s thing. He would go to Augusta NationalNot to play, but to dinner at the club, fascinated and curious about the club and his annual April invitation. He liked the masters to turn like the clock and that its achievement was global, two goals that he knew well. He did not play in the annual pro-AMS in FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memfis, or in the Play Off-FedEx events. He did not deliver the trophy to the conclusion of FedexIn East Lake in Atlanta every year. He did not play Golf with his friend and former brother -in -law, George W. Bush, noted the Golfer of speed. No, not a golf boy.

And yet: FedEx has spent hundreds of millions as a sponsor of PGA Tour’s events for the last 40 years, returning when Danny Thomas Memphis Classic was taken to Federal Express St. Jude Classic. In 1987, Curtis Strange won the event with a blow to Russ Cochran, Mike Donald, Tom Kite and Dennis Watson, earning $ 130,000 from a $ 725,000 bag. It was a final, and there were federal Express signals everywhere. Over time, the name became shorter and the bag became bigger. The orange and purple color scheme remained the same.

In August, Gents competing in the FedEx St. Championship. Jude will play for $ 20 million. Last year’s winner, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, received $ 3.6 million. This is the first week of Play off-it now three-week. In September, there are a series of seven events called the FedEx Fall Serie. While players sometimes wear black strips to mourn the deaths of different golf people, every player in the tournament can wear purple and orange socks for a day, in honor of FedEx Fred.

“Fred wasn’t a golf guy in terms of playing game,” Fred PerpallThe USGA president said, said another day. Smith invited him to serve on the FedEx board in 2021. “But Fred was what we would call a ‘golf boy’ in terms of appreciation of the game values. I think he was drawn to the PGA Tour because of the ethics that the players show, because professional golf is global – and because there is such a powerful charitable element.”

In 2010, New York Times reported that FedEx, as a company, gave 1.5 percent of its profits before charity. The average of the national corporation then was 0.9 percent.

Over the years, Smith has had senior leaders working underneath that they were embedded in the game. Among them were Ken Masterson, the company’s senior lawyer; Mike Lenz, an former -cfo FedEx; And Don Coller, an former -ceo, who worked for FedEx for nearly 40 years. Before that, Colereran was a Caddy Kid and a Night member at the Oakley Country Club in Watertown, Mass. He still has the emphasis and perhaps some fences that intertwine to try it.

“Jack once asked Jay if he could have a meeting with Fred,” Coleran said another day. Jack nicklaus. Jay Monahan, Commissioner of PGA Tour. Fred Smith. The meeting was arranged. Nicklaus came to Memfis, where FedEx was based. Colereran was there for him.

“Here you had these two icons, one of the business, one of the sports, choosing each other’s brain,” said Colleran. Colraran was hit by Smith asking Nicklaus about his overall athletic ability, especially basketball, and how he shaped his golf. Nicklaus has often said that playing different sports in different seasons helped his golf immensely. Both men, when you go down straight, were good to remove things from the ground. Nicklaus won four open shifts and six long long master shifts. FedEx has 700 planes in its fleet.

Smith left him to Colereran to distribute trophies and checks in Memfis and Atlanta, to do interviews on TV with Jimmy Roberts and Dan Hicks of NBC Sports. Colraran can easily remember how Tiger Woods still had his face face, 15 or more minutes after winning the 2018 Tour championship in East Lake. (You don’t get down quickly from a hurry like him.) One year, at Pebble Beach pro-am, Colereran and Paul Casey won the amateur side of the event. Someone Had to represent FedEx at AT&T! If it fell to Colereran more than once.

Colereran said FedEx did corporate studies on what he went to Golf to see what kind of noise the company was getting for all the checks he was writing. “We are in 220 places,” said Colereran, who has traveled the globe repeatedly on FedEx planes. “Through golf. I’ve seen our signals everywhere.” Brand awareness, at the highest and broader level. It’s not like there are no other carriers overnight there. Taking your name there is a part of the battle, of course.

But from the beginning, what FedEx made is the company’s obsessive attention to details. For the timeline and efficiency, especially for the click time. Tom Hanks plays a blocked FedEx manager in the 2000 movie remove (Fred Smith makes a presentation in it) and directs that point in ruthless home. In the film, and in FedEx Company’s daily life, every moment, of package and employees, and any exchange between client and employees, issues.

Colraran said taking FedEx’s top clients with the main PGA Tour players in Pro-AMS was a key component to make the relationship of the FedEx-PGA Tour relationship. He said if there were players who were talking on their phones or in the bubble of their siege across the pro-am, he would say something for a senior tournament, including Jay Monahan. “We will see improvement,” said Colereran. He quoted Justin Rose and Padraig Harrington as two players who went out of their way to be heartfelt for pro-am partners. “They would tell me before a round,” Tell me about the boys you are playing with. What is a good day with them for you? “”

Prpall, USGA president, recalled the element of the marked hour removeBut he gets something else from the film related to Fred Smith.

“Tom Hanks is on that island, blocked, completely alone, except that volleyball,” said. “But there is a community of FedEx employees trying to get it home. FedEx has hundreds of thousands of employees. Fred understood that sense of the community. You will see it in the way he ran FedEx. In all the charities he did in Memfis and all over the world. But this is golf, or not?

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments in Michael.bamberger@golf.com