Southwest Florida golf: ACE Group Classic changes name to Chubb Classic

Jan. 19--After 17 years -- and three weeks prior to its 2016 event, the ACE Group Classic is changing its name to the Chubb Classic.

ACE Group, which became the golf tournament's title sponsor in 1998, announced Thursday that it had completed its acquisition of Chubb, creating the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. According to a press release, ACE paid approximately $29.5 billion in the aggregate in cash and stock, based on the most recent closing price of ACE Limited shares and the number of outstanding shares of The Chubb Corporation common stock at the time of closing.

"We are excited to support our title sponsor by following suit with a new tournament name and overall rebrand of the event," tournament director Matt Hilliker said. "Becoming the Chubb Classic allows us to revamp our look within the Naples community and be the first event to showcase the new Chubb corporate brand. The name of the event is changing, but our commitment to delivering the highest quality event and fan experience will not waver."

The PGA Tour Champions event, which has a $1.6 million purse, changed its name to Chubb Classic on its social media accounts Monday and renamed its website under ChubbClassic.com on Tuesday. The 2016 tournament is Feb. 9-14 at TwinEagles Golf Club.

The corporate acquisition will only affect the name of the tournament and the rebrand. No ticket pricing, venue, additional events or other details in regards to the overall event will be changed.

While it's been almost two decades since a name change, Naples' event has had quite a few of them since its inception in 1988. The Aetna Challenge was from 1988-1992, with the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Challenge lasting one year (1993), followed by The IntelliNet Challege in 1994-95, and the Greater Naples IntelliNet Challenge in 1996. Electronics company LG Group took over as title sponsor in 1996 and 1997, but ended its sponsorship after the encountering economic troubles back in its home country of Korea.

With the tournament having its own difficulties and without a title sponsor, the event's future was in question all through the following summer and into the fall. The tour delayed the release of its 1999 schedule while trying to secure a title sponsor.

Then in September of 1998, Advantage International, which is now Octagon, came forward with ACE Group as a potential title sponsor. Five-and-a-half months later, the 1999 ACE Group Classic was played at Bay Colony Golf Club and Allen Doyle completed a wire-to-wire finish.

The tournament has bounced around Collier County since then, but returned to TwinEagles -- its home from 2002-06 -- in 2012 and has remained there. The Club at Pelican Bay (1988-90), The Vineyards (1991-95), The Classics at Lely Resort (1996), Bay Colony (1997-99), Pelican Marsh (2000-01), Quail West (2007-08), TPC Treviso Bay (2009), and The Quarry (2010-11) have been other host courses.

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