THE MODERATOR: Joining us ahead of the 2026 Standard Portland Classic, we have Monica Fee, the LPGA chief sales and partnerships officer, and Amy Malagamba, the vice president of communications at The Standard. We have an exciting announcement today, if you guys want to go ahead and share that first.
MONICA FEE: We are very excited at the LPGA to announce today that The Standard will be extending its association with our tour beyond tournament week and becoming an official tour partner of the LPGA.
Q. Amy, could you just speak to the existing partnership and what went into the decision to become an official tour partner of the LPGA?
AMY MALAGAMBA: Sure. It's funny, we're actually pretty early in our partnership. We had just finished the first year of our title sponsorship of The Standard Portland Classic this past year. The Standard has been involved in this tournament for three years in a growing capacity. We started with volunteer sponsorships, and it just kept growing.
Really with the new commissioner and a lot of the new leadership at the LPGA, there was this message that the LPGA really wants to do business with the people who do business with the LPGA, and we said, that works for us. We share common values, and it just made a lot of sense.
Q. This partnership is going to span across broadcast, digital, social, and onsite activations. What can we expect to see throughout the year, specifically around the tag line that we have set of "Setting the Standard"?
MONICA FEE: Sure, I think Setting the Standard is really about celebrating our athletes off the course as well as on. So it's about the characteristics that they embody in terms of resilience and leadership and sportsmanship, so you can expect to see "Setting the Standard" live across broadcast, social, digital. Specifically with the Golf Channel, we'll be introducing features that will highlight certain players and all those characteristics that they embody.
Q. The Standard Portland Classic is a successful event that continues to bring the world's best golfers to the Portland area. Why was it important to activate year-round in addition to hosting a premier event like The Standard Portland Classic?
AMY MALAGAMBA: That's an interesting question. I think this has evolved. It's been very organic, but the notion of being able to activate and have something that is going year-round was very appealing.
Our company, The Standard, actually activates at the pro-ams for many of the different events across the country, and this just started to feel right to us.
Q. The first two rounds of the tournament will air on Rose City SportsNet, which is a free network that focuses on women's sports. How important is that to the tournament, and not just to the tournament, to the game, to have somewhere that people can watch for free that is focused on women?
MONICA FEE: I think it's a great thing. I think the LPGA has entered the conversation. More people are interested in women's sports today than ever before, and that's being met at the intersection of golf's global expansion and popularity.
So really excited about that.
AMY MALAGAMBA: I think we also -- you probably have seen, we have a Sports Bra pop-up, and we have a longstanding partnership. Actually Jenny Nguyen is on my pro-am team tomorrow with her dad caddying for her, and I think the connection to focus on women's sports is tangible.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports