Last year, Ford pulled out of sponsoring tournaments, including the PGA Tour's Ford Championship and the Champions Tour's Ford Senior Players
Championship. It is the only company among the Big Three that doesn't sponsor a PGA Tour event.
Mulally's participation in the event was somewhat of a novelty because no one could recall when a rival CEO had ever played in Buick's pro-am. But the move was hardly unprecedented for Mulally, who has a penchant for playing in pro-ams--a format that allows prominent business leaders to rub elbows with tour stars at the rate of about $7,000 to $10,000 per player.
advertisement
advertisement