professional golf tournament on the Senior PGA Tour.

The ACE group of companies has landed on the calendar of professional golf by hosting the new tournament, The ACE Classic, which will be held every year, starting this February at the Bay Colony Golf Club in Naples, Florida, a WCI Communities property.

The full field (78 players) three-day tournament will feature a prize purse of $1.2 million and will be televised each day by the sports network ESPN from February 26-28.

The new ACE event will be the anchor leg of the Senior PGA Tour's four-week Florida swing.

An integral part of professional golf is charity, with the sport delivering more in direct contributions to various charities than any other professional sport.

The ACE event will benefit the YMCA of Collier County, a Naples-based charity.

The YMCA will receive financial support, but will also contribute to the nearly 1,200-member volunteer force for tournament week, February 22-28.

In the four days leading up to the 54-hole tournament, ACE executives and other ACE invitees get an opportunity to mix with and play golf with professional golfers in a pro-am format, as the pros familiarise themselves with the course in practice rounds, prior to the actual Senior PGA event.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said: "We are happy to have the ACE group of companies join our family of Senior Tour sponsors. Naples has a wonderful history of supporting Senior Tour golf, and we look forward to working with ACE in continuing this tradition.'' President of ACE's chief operating company, ACE Insurance Ltd., Dominic Frederico said: "Our association with the Senior Tour provides an excellent opportunity for ACE to raise awareness of the company and its business in the United States, a critical insurance market for the ACE Group of companies.

"In addition to establishing the ACE name, we will also be able to use the ACE Classic as a means to thank our clients and reward our producers and employees.'' He added: "The fact that we will at the same time be assisting the worthy efforts of the YMCA makes the title sponsorship one that we felt was too good an opportunity to miss. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with the Senior Tour, WCI Communities and the YMCA and we are delighted to have the sports marketing firm of Advantage International, whose track record in this area is well known, in charge of the event.'' Advantage is a division of Octagon, which offers fully comprehensive global sports marketing services.

Advantage currently operates the Senior Tour's American Express Invitational presented by Business Week in Sarasota, Florida; the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic in Clifton, New Jersey, presented by Time Magazine; the Lexus Challenge in La Quinta, California, hosted by Raymond Floyd; and, the LPGA's JAL Big Apple Classic in New Rochelle, New York, presented by Golf Magazine.

President of the YMCA of Collier County Kevin Miller commented: "The YMCA is pleased to be associated with the ACE Classic.

"The money raised through this event will help to expand our character-building youth programmes and will allow us to increase our assistance to `Y' participants with financial needs.''