US insurer to drop LPGA sponsorship

ILLINOIS, Feb 26 (AFP): State Farm Insurance will drop its 19-year sponsorship of a 1.7 million dollar LPGA tournament after this year's event, a statement from the firm announced on Friday. State Farm, based in nearby Bloomington, will back the State Farm Classic on June 9-13 before pulling out in another blow to the women's golf tour, which has struggled to keep financial backers during the latest economic downturn. "We continuously evaluate our sponsorships and have made a strategic business decision not to renew," said Mark Gibson, State Farm's assistant vice president of marketing. "It was a difficult decision. Over the years our company and its employees have developed an emotional attachment to the tournament." State Farm, which rescued the event by taking over as title sponsor in 1992, agreed to match contributions to tournament charities in 2012 at the same levels as are generated this year. An LPGA event has been staged in Springfield for 36 years. American Cristie Kerr is the defending champion.