£87,000 raised for charity at BMW Wentworth

The Golf Foundation has thanked the European Tour for helping to raise the profile of junior grass roots golf during the recent BMW PGA Championship.

The Golf Foundation was selected as the joint Official Charity of the tournament alongside Rays of Sunshine, the children’s charity which brightens up the lives of seriously ill youngsters in the UK. Through promotion of these two organisations, on-site fundraising and a series of public participation events at Wentworth Club, the European Tour helped raise more than £87,000 to be shared between the two children’s charities.

However, fundraising was only part of the story, as the Golf Foundation was given centre stage in a special ‘Tri-Golf’ area in Wentworth’s Championship Village for the week to introduce hundreds of youngsters and their families to golf in what is believed to have been the busiest week yet for the Golf Foundation at this event. Some 29 school and club groups came along to enjoy golf challenges, while teachers and parents of all the children involved could find out more about how their children can ‘Start, Learn and Stay’ in the game with Golf Foundation support.

To excite all ages among public spectators, the Golf Foundation team created the ‘Totally Mega Putt Challenge’ for the week, raising close to £10,000 through the generosity of the many family members who had a go at this 100 ft monster putt; the most accurate putters winning some excellent Titleist prizes every day including Scotty Cameron putters.

The funds raised by the Golf Foundation will be spent on its HSBC Golf Roots programme through which the charity helps young people, from all backgrounds and circumstances, to enjoy the playing and personal benefits of the sport. Starting in schools and communities the charity has created a successful pathway into club golf, with a target of encouraging 50,000 extra young people through the gates of a golf club by 2018.

Brendon Pyle, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said later: “This charity is hugely grateful to the European Tour for both its fundraising support during the week and the way in which its team has helped ours to showcase the Foundation’s work to visiting youngsters and their families.”