The PGA Tour has filed suit in Flagler County against Ginn Sports Entertainment and Ginn Development, citing a breach of contract when the companies abruptly dropped sponsorship of a PGA Tour event and a Champions Tour event at courses along Florida’s Palm Coast.

According to an article in The Florida Times-Union, Ginn was under contract as a title sponsor for the Champions Tour event, at the Ocean Hammock Resort, for another three years, and as title sponsor for the PGA Tour event, held last year at the Conservatory Course, for another three years. Ginn, a resort and residential development company, has been hit hard by the recession and also had to drop a NASCAR sponsorship two years ago and an LPGA event in South Carolina last August.

At the end of January, Ginn also dropped its sponsorship of an LPGA event in Orlando

The PGA Tour’s Executive Vice President of Communications, Ty Votaw, said that the Tour had been working with Ginn to modify the sponsorship agreement, and was taken by surprise when Ginn canceled its sponsorships through an e-mailed news release.

Ryan Julison, Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications for Ginn Resorts, said there would be “no comment on pending litigation.”