BMW has become the latest sponsorship partner in the Swedish Match Tour. They have signed up for with a three-year agreement which runs through to the completion of the 2006/7 tour season. The announcement was made yesterday during the Portugal round of the 2004/5 Swedish Match Tour event.

As the official car of the Swedish Match Tour, BMW will award a BMW 545i Touring to the Tour champion. The BMW 5 Series Touring, valued at Euro 70,000 (approximately $85,000), will be awarded in conjunction with the $60,000 bonus prize offered by the Swedish Match Tour, making the Tour championship worth approximately $145,000.

“We’re very happy to have this association with BMW,” said Pierre Tinnerholm, President of the Swedish Match Tour. “The Tour has built a solid foundation over its first five years, and the addition of BMW helps raise the stature of the Tour.”

The sixth season of the Swedish Match Tour includes nine events with prize money totaling more than $1 million. The Portugal Match Cup is the first event on the 2004-’05 schedule, and is followed by the Danish Open (Skovshoved, Denmark) Aug. 11-15. Other events are scheduled in Bermuda, Japan, the US, Italy, Germany, Croatia and Sweden.