Newsmakers 2007: The Ginn Factor

If Edward Robert Ginn III isn't yet a name in your household, it's not for a lack of trying. The 58-year-old president and CEO of Ginn Clubs and Resorts completed a unique sponsorship hat trick this year: Putting his name on tournaments on the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours--all the better to market high-end properties from Vermont to the Virgin Islands. The son of a small-town South Carolina homebuilder and a survivor of financial hard times in Hilton Head Island in the mid-1980s, Ginn began '07 with two events--the old guys' Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach and the women's Ginn Open at his Reunion, Fla., resort. He then added a second LPGA tournament (the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika) and also filled a void when the PGA Tour had to replace its Fresno, Calif., stop that never started. Ginn's sur Mer Classic at Tesoro was played in Florida, but it touted his resort in the Bahamas.