Wyndham’s exit signals sponsor pressure on the Tour. It has sponsored the Greensboro tournament since 2007. That deal ran out with this year’s event, an edition of the tournament that saw rain hold up play at some point in each of the first three rounds at Sedgefield Country Club.

According to Sports Business Journal, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, worth roughly $5.4 billion, is walking away from the Tour entirely rather than renewing on different terms. Raymond James will probably take over as title sponsor, which is the financial firm’s other big sports play. The first is the naming rights for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium. Greensboro will also move into the Tour’s top-tier Championship Series in 2028, ending months of speculation about the event’s future on Tour.

The move isn’t happening all at once. The event is expected to run as a regular full-field tournament in 2027, then step up to Championship Series status in 2028. That gives the Tour, the host course, and North Carolina lawmakers time to sort out the financial side, which is really what’s driving all of this.

83% of our readers couldn't break par yesterday

Changing winds, tricky bunkers, and quirky breaks test every shot. Beat par, compare scores, and return tomorrow for a new challenge.

TEE OFF HERE↗

Championship Series sponsors are paying up for the tier. The going rate for a title deal is reportedly $30 million or more per year, with escalators that push the number even higher yearly. North Carolina lawmakers have floated $40 million in state funding to help close that gap for Greensboro. Tied to it is a binding four-year agreement the Tour would have to sign with the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation, committing to Championship Series-level events in each of those years.

This isn’t happening in isolation. Five other events, the Sompo Championship, The Sentry, the Travelers Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the Cadillac Championship, have already locked up 2028 Championship Series spots. Several current Signature events, including the Truist Championship, RBC Heritage, and Genesis Invitational, are expected to join them. Tournaments like the 3M Open are reportedly pitching for one of the remaining slots.

A few things are still up in the air. BMW’s deal for its namesake Championship runs through 2027, and it’s unclear whether that event will be in the Championship Series or the reworked postseason, which the Tour hasn’t finalized. The Tour will release more details on the Championship later this month.

Wyndham’s stock hasn’t had a great year. Shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) are down roughly 17% from their 52-week high, putting the company’s market cap at around $5.4 billion and leaving the stock below the analyst price targets, which mostly cluster in the $96 to $107 range. Its 2025 revenue came in at $1.43 billion, up slightly from the year before, but earnings dropped by about a third. Renewing a 20-year sponsorship at a steeper price isn’t an easy call when the numbers look like that.

North Carolina hasn’t released the state funding, and the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation hasn’t signed its agreement with the Tour. Those pieces still need to fall into place. But with Raymond James lined up as a sponsor, 2027 will bring a full-field tournament and 2028 Championship Series status, a very different outlook than the one Greensboro had just months ago.