Dick's Sporting Goods Open to be Held at En-Joie Golf Course

ENDICOTT, N.Y., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broome County Community Charities Inc. announced today that it will host a Champions Tour event at the En-Joie Golf Course on July 9-15, 2007. Senator Tom Libous and Dick's Sporting Goods have provided significant funding for this event, which will be named the Dick's Sporting Goods Open and will carry a purse of $1.6 million

Senator Libous has secured $500,000 in Senate Tourism and Economic Development money for the 2007 Dick's Sporting Goods Open.

"Broome County Community Charities, Inc. would like to thank Dick's Sporting Goods and Senator Libous for their support and contribution to our event," said Alex Alexander, Executive Director of Broome Charities. "The enthusiasm and support to host a Champions Tour event has been tremendous. We are confident that the Champions Tour players will be impressed with this high quality tournament to be contested where many of them first visited us on the PGA TOUR."

Broome County Community Charities, Inc. has been the cornerstone of professional golf in Central New York since the event was first held in 1971. As host of the PGA TOUR's B.C. Open, Broome Charities has contributed over $8 million to numerous local charities. Our primary charitable recipients are the Lourdes Hospital Foundation and United Health Services Foundation. Additionally, local service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions who assist in the operation of the tournament, have received substantial dollars for their charitable organizations. Broome County Community Charities recently contributed $100,000 to local flood relief following the devastating June floods.

"The great tradition of PGA TOUR golf in Broome County will continue next year with the Champions Tour and Dick's Sporting Goods Open and that is wonderful news," said Champions Tour president Rick George. "The roster of past champions at En-Joie includes the likes of Hubert Green, Gil Morgan, Tom Kite, Don Pooley, Jay Haas, Fred Funk, Craig Stadler and New York natives Wayne Levi and soon-to-be Champions Tour player Joey Sindelar. All, no doubt, have fond memories of their wins and many years of visiting the area. Our hats go off to Alex Alexander and the many people in the community who played a role in making this happen. We are very happy to welcome Dick's Sporting Goods to the Champions Tour family of sponsors."

"We are very pleased to be able to participate in the Champions Tour event at En-Joie as the title sponsor," said Jeffrey R. Hennion, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of Dick's Sporting Goods. "As the largest golf retailer in the U.S., we are passionate about the game, and there is no better way to demonstrate that fact to our customers than to be involved at the highest level of golf. We look forward to making the Dick's Sporting Goods Open a premier event on the Champion's Tour calendar and to host this event in the area where our company was originally founded."

As a long-time supporter of the PGA TOUR's B.C. Open, Senator Tom Libous was the driving force who brought New York State Senate funding forward as Presenting Sponsor of the B.C. Open in 2002. The Senator's commitment and passion for this community event has been the catalyst as other local corporations have stepped forward to lend their support.

"I'm proud to be a part of keeping the tradition of professional golf in our community alive" said Senator Libous. "I commend Alex Alexander and his staff for their hard work, and I look forward to having the Dick's Sporting Goods Open here in the Southern Tier," added Senator Libous.

All three rounds of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open will be broadcast on The Golf Channel July 13-15, 2007.

Broome County Community Charities, Inc.

Broome County Community Charities, Inc. has been the sponsoring organization of the PGA TOUR's B.C. Open since 1974 and has contributed over $8 million to charities to date.

The Board consists of 36 men and women in the community representing industry, financial, educational and medical institutions. The tournament itself has more than 700 sponsors. Broome County Community Charities, Inc. also involves itself in providing funds for scholarships, providing leadership and funds to build such things as a community meeting hall, remodeling the Boys and Girls Club and Community Center, and particularly funding a multitude of health-related programs throughout the southern tier region of New York state.

Broome County Community Charities, Inc. was incorporated in 1974 to: - raise funds for medical and other charitable functions within the community - to foster awareness of community needs by individuals and organizations of the community - to encourage wide-scale volunteer community participation by engaging in activities that will foster a community spirit and esteem.

The Executive Director of Broome County Community Charities, Inc. is Alex Alexander. Our web site address is dsgopen.com.

Dick's Sporting Goods

Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. is an authentic full-line sporting goods retailer offering a broad assortment of brand name sporting goods equipment, apparel, and footwear in a specialty store environment. As of July, 2006, the Company operates 268 stores in 34 states primarily throughout the Eastern half of the U.S.

Champions Tour

The Champions Tour is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The Champions Tour now has 28 official Charles Schwab Cup events (plus Bank of America Championship which was cancelled due to rain) offering $50.95 million in prize money in 2006 and its highest average purse ever of $1.82 million. The Champions Tour's primary purpose is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older; to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events also generate significant sums of money for charity. On October 30th, 2005 the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour and their tournaments announced they had reached the $1 billion milestone in charitable donations dating back to the first recorded donation in 1938. The commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Rick George is president of the Champions Tour. TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Our web site address is PGATOUR.com.

Media Contacts: John Karedes/Broome County Community Charities, Inc. 607.763.0000 john@dsgopen.com Jeff Adams/Champions Tour 904.273.3397 jeffadams@pgatourhq.com Jeff Hennion/Dick's Sporting Goods 724.273.3222 jeff.hennion@dcsg.com Brian Drew/Senator Tom Libous 607.343.1093 bdd@libous.net