Major Champion Collin Morikawa Joins with Las Vegas Sands to Engage with its Resorts and Empower Thriving Communities
The six-time PGA Tour winner will support Sands on resort and community initiatives
LAS VEGAS, June 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) today announced that six-time PGA TOUR winner Collin Morikawa is the company's newest champion ambassador, a multi-year engagement that will incorporate the world-class athlete into the company's integrated resort programs and advance the mutual goal of building strong and resilient communities with priorities on youth development and community revitalization in areas of need.
Kicking off their joint work, Sands is donating $100,000 to the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course restoration project in Los Angeles. Morikawa, an LA native and honorary chairman of FORE Youth: The 2023 U.S. Open Community Legacy Campaign, has championed transformation of the golf course into a hub for junior golf development. The project aims to raise $15 million to rejuvenate the nine-hole, par-3 golf course, along with its practice facility and supporting buildings, as well as ensure long-term sustainability and youth development programming.
Through the broader partnership, Morikawa will continue supporting Sands at golf clinics designed to promote youth development and leadership skills, as he has done at the Sands Youth Golf Clinic in Macao and for the Sands Cares Youth Empowerment Initiative in Long Island, New York, where Sands hopes to build an integrated resort if successful in obtaining a Downstate New York gaming license.
Sharing a commitment to community advancement, Sands and Morikawa also will work together on revitalization programs, like the LA golf course restoration project and Morikawa's support of the relief efforts for the deadly wildfires in Hawaii last year.
"I've had the opportunity to work with Sands in New York and Macao, and we are very much aligned in our commitment to leverage the sport of golf to advance youth development and build leadership skills," Morikawa said. "But I'm just as excited that we share a vision for creating strong communities by addressing areas that need the infusion of resources we can bring to the table. Working together, we will create many opportunities for our joint community priorities."
A two-time major champion, six-time PGA TOUR winner, two-time Ryder Cup participant and Olympian at just 27, Morikawa has matched historical performances with one of the most genuine and relatable personalities in professional sports.
After putting the golf world on notice in 2020, he cemented his place in the history books in 2021. With a win at the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession, Morikawa joined Tiger Woods as the only players to have won a major and a WGC title before the age of 25. After top-10 performances at both the 2021 PGA Championship and U.S. Open, Morikawa joined the exclusive club entitled Champion Golfer of the Year with his commanding performance at the 2021 Open Championship. This performance again linked Morikawa and Woods, as they are now the only two players to have won both the PGA Championship and Open Championship before the age of 25.
At the 2020 PGA Championship, Morikawa hit one of the most iconic shots in major championship history, en route to victory with his sensational drive at the par-4 16th hole, which set up an eagle that cemented his place as a major winner. His two-shot win at Harding Park also carried historic significance, as he joined Jack Nicklaus, Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only 23-year-olds to win the Wanamaker Trophy.
Born and raised in Los Angeles and now a resident of Las Vegas, Morikawa has excelled both on the course and in the classroom as a 2019 graduate of the prestigious Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. When not competing, Morikawa devotes himself to spending time with his wife, dog and finding the best eats in town.
"Collin is an outstanding partner for us on many fronts, first and foremost because of his leadership both on and off the course," Sands Chairman and CEO Robert G. Goldstein said. "Between our mutual home of Las Vegas and shared Asia roots, we intend to create a host of opportunities to advance the priorities and causes that are equally important to us."
About Sands (NYSE:LVS)
Sands is the world's preeminent developer and operator of world-class integrated resorts. The company's iconic properties drive valuable leisure and business tourism and deliver significant economic benefits, sustained job creation, financial opportunities for local businesses and community investment to help make its host regions ideal places to live, work and visit.
Sands' portfolio of properties includes Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and The Venetian Macao, The Plaza Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao and Sands Macao in Macao SAR, China, through majority ownership in Sands China Ltd.
Dedicated to being a leader in corporate responsibility, Sands is anchored by the core tenets of serving people, communities and the planet. The company's ESG leadership has led to inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for World and North America, as well as Fortune's list of the World's Most Admired Companies. To learn more, visit www.sands.com.
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SOURCE Las Vegas Sands Corp.