Divot Mix

The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top.
-- Pete Dye

Funk to host 2nd annual Accessible Golf Pro-Am

Fred Funk will host to the second annual Accessible Golf Pro-Am in Toledo, Ohio, July 14. The event will raise funds in support of the National Alliance for Accessible Golf.

"We are thrilled to welcome Fred Funk to our reception and tournament," said Alliance President Trey Holland. "The commitment of our professional players, which includes members of the LPGA and Nationwide Tour, to helping people with disabilities enjoy the game of golf, makes this tournament an inspirational event."

On July 13, attendees can meet Funk and other great players from the LPGA and Nationwide Tour at a reception and auction to be held at the Toledo Country Club. Attend the auction and bid on an opportunity to play in the Pro-Am with Fred Funk the very day.

GCSAA is a founding member of the alliance, and Tim Glorioso, CGCS, is the GCSAA Director of Golf Course Operations at Toledo Country Club

The auction will also feature tickets to some of golf’s most sought after events including the U.S. Open, PGA Championships and Ryder Cup as well as signed memorabilia from golf’s biggest names. Tickets to the reception and playing/sponsorship opportunities are limited. To reserve tickets, please contact the National Alliance for Accessible Golf at http://www.accessgolf.org, 703-234-4122.

State Farm Classic, Clothes off Our Back to hold auction

The LPGA State Farm Classic has teamed up with the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation to raise money for children's charities through an online auction of memorabilia donated by the players.

The signed and donated items available for public bidding include  a visor donated by Karrie Webb, golf shoes donated by Natalie Gulbis, a shirt from the 2007 State Farm Classic winner Sherri Steinhauer, a shirt and sweater vest from the Solheim Cup donated by Betsy King, a Nike Golf shirt and visor donated by Michelle Wie and much more. The auction will begin July 14 and run for two weeks at http://www.clothesoffourback.org.

The State Farm Classic has also chosen Golf Fore Africa, a charity started by LPGA Hall of Fame golfer and three time State Farm Classic winner Betsy King, to receive a portion of the money raised from the auction.  Golf Fore Africa provides care and support for orphans, vulnerable children and those living with AIDS in Rwanda.

"After seeing with my own eyes the devastating conditions in Rwanda caused by AIDS and the 1994 genocide, I knew I had to do something to help," King said.

The Clothes Off Our Back Foundation (actors Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford's charity) is a not-for-profit organization that works with celebrities, athletes and other high profile individuals to raise money for children's causes such as autism research, hunger relief, critically ill children and girls' scholarship programs in Africa.

Renee Powell honored by University of St. Andrews

PGA Professional Renee Powell of East Canton, Ohio, the 2003 PGA First Lady of Golf, has become the first female golfer and ninth golf professional in history to be conferred with an honorary doctor of laws (LLD) degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Prior to Powell’s being conferred with her degree, a choir sang "Straight Down the Middle," a song popularized by the late Bing Crosby, whose love of golf was legendary. Powell was introduced by professor Alan Cairns, who paid homage to Powell’s life work of building diversity in the game and her personal struggle early in her playing career to achieve human rights.

"Renee has received many honors from the world of golf, too many to list here, but amongst the most notable is her First Lady of Golf award by The Professional Golfers Association of America in 2003," said Cairns. "Situated as it is, it is natural for the University of St. Andrews to confer honors on eminent golfers from time to time.  However, in Renee Powell we honor someone whose achievements transcend the world of golf and move into much broader issues of human rights, racial equality and the treatment of disadvantaged members of society."

Joining in the celebration was Renee’s father, William Powell, 91, a PGA Life Member and who remains the only African-American to own, operate and build a golf course in the United States.

At Clearview Golf Club Powell guides a course her father, a U.S. Army veteran, built in 1946. Powell’s youngest brother, Larry, is course superintendent and a long-time member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

The ceremony is the first of two visits that Powell will make this summer to St. Andrews. She will return in August as part of the "New Links St. Andrews" initiative connecting youth to St. Andrews and with scholarships to the university. Powell will be accompanied by four youngsters from her LPGA girls program at Clearview Golf Club.