PGA Tour event coming to Detroit in 2019; likely at Detroit Golf Club

Detroit Free Press staff | Detroit Free Press

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The PGA Tour is heading back to Michigan in June 2019, and Detroit Golf Club is expected to be the host venue.

Detroit-based Quicken Loans and the PGA Tour announced in a news release the historic move on Wednesday, marking the first time pro golf's premier tour has hosted a tournament within Detroit's city limits.

“Professional golf belongs in Detroit," Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner said in a news release. "The Motor City – and the entire state of Michigan – have long served as a premier golf destination with some of the best courses in the country. We will be working with the PGA TOUR to make the Detroit stop one of the most exciting and engaging events on the professional golf calendar,” said Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner.

The tournament signals the return of PGA Tour golf in Michigan for the first time since 2009, when the Buick Open last appeared on the schedule in Grand Blanc.

Dan Gilbert-owned Quicken Loans, the nation's largest mortgage lender, will partner with marketing company Intersport to oversee the tournament, according to the news release.

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Quicken Loans had been the title sponsor for the Quicken Loans National at famed Congressional Country Club since 2014.

“Quicken Loans has been a tremendous PGA Tour partner for several years now, making an impact through the innovative spirit and community-first mindset the organization and its leaders bring to every endeavor,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a release. “We’re thrilled to take this new step in our partnership and bring a PGA Tour event to the great city of Detroit.”

It's not the the first time Quicken Loans has tried to bring a PGA event to Detroit. In 2016, the Detroit-based organization, which maintains a sponsorship agreement with Tour player Rickie Fowler, tried to negotiate a primetime exhibition between Fowler and Rory McIlroy at Detroit Golf Club. The under-the-lights event was expected to include celebrities Justin Timberlake and Mark Wahlberg, but the event never happened.

Detroit Golf Club is expected to serve as the host venue, according to both the PGA Tour and Quicken Loans, and "the club's membership recently overwhelmingly voted to empower the Board of Directors to explore and execute a PGA Tour event at its historic Donald Ross-designed course," the release said.