Central Texas charity golf event hosted by Sergio and Angela Garcia nets $2 million
Wet, chilly weather couldn’t dampen Sergio Garcia’s spirits when he and his wife Angela hosted their first Fore Kids ATX fundraiser earlier this month, one that raised $2 million for the couple’s foundation.
The two-day event consisted of a number of stops throughout the region, and the Garcias partnered with Dell Children’s Medical Center, Foster Village and The Muny Conservancy’s Austin Golf Academy in hosting the event. The showcase included appearances by some of the biggest names in the game, like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. The event also included a gala led by LIV Golf analyst David Feherty and country singer Chris Lane.
“It was great to bring so many kind-hearted people together for a very worthy cause,” Garcia said via a press release.
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A former UT golfer and Golf Channel reporter, Austin-raised Angela Garcia has worked with multiple local charities and this fundraiser was certainly a cause for celebration. In addition to the Fore Kids ATX event, the foundation is planning to invest $2 million over the next four years in various projects serving children throughout Central Texas.
“Fore Kids ATX provides access to consistent, quality medical care that this vulnerable population needs to thrive through extremely difficult circumstances,” Angela Garcia said. “Sergio and I feel incredibly fortunate to live in Austin and to raise our family here. We’re excited to host a wonderful event while raising money for the children who need it most.”
The event was such a success that plans are already in the works for another, to be held next November.
First course flips from PGA Tour to LIV Golf
The 16th edition of the PGA Tour visiting the Riviera Maya in Mexico, south of Cancun, which was played earlier this month, will be its final event. Golfweek reported that the El Camaleon Golf Club, which has regularly hosted the World Wide Technologies Championship at Mayakoba is set to be the site of the first LIV Golf tournament in February 2023.
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The decision to jump to LIV Golf makes sense given that Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, designed the course and has strong ties to the resort and tournament organizers. LIV Golf also has signed the most prominent Mexican golfers to its roster of players, including Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.
LIV Golf Mayakoba is expected to take place on Feb. 24-26, 2023, and serve as the kickoff event on the 14-event schedule. It is the first golf course to leave the PGA Tour in favor of hosting an event on the upstart circuit. Under the new PGA Tour schedule, a number of events have been deemed “elevated” in an effort to maximize playing fields and purses. The World Wide Technologies Championship was left off the elevated list for 2023.
WWT remains signed as a title sponsor and it is believed that the PGA Tour will seek a new venue for the WWT Championship. El Camaleon was the first official event on the PGA Tour schedule outside of the United States and Canada.
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LPGA announces schedule, draws ire of sponsor
The LPGA released its 2023 schedule at the CME Group Tour Championship, where Lydia Ko was handed a $2 million winner’s check, the largest in tour history. Next year’s schedule — which will again include just one Texas date, the Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America near Dallas in October — will include 33 tournaments and a record prize fund of $101.4 million. This year’s purses totaled $93.5 million.
“We feel very bullish on where we’re going, but we are not done yet," LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said. "I think all this growth is really positive, but we still have work to do.”
But while Marcoux Samaan feels good about the tour’s direction, CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy — who handed out that record-setting check — isn’t quite as optimistic.
During the annual Tuesday night dinner at the CME, the firm typically invites a select number of players to attend. This year, when Duffy asked for the house lights to be turned on so that he could applaud the players in the room, the only people standing were those serving the tables.
Not a single player showed up.
“It’s an embarrassment to a company of my size and an embarrassment to me personally,” said Duffy, two days after the event.
Duffy’s beef isn’t with the players, though — it’s with who’s at the helm.
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“I am exceptionally disappointed with the leadership of the LPGA,” he continued. “They better get their act together because they’re going to lose people like me over stuff like this.”
When CME first sponsored the Titleholders event in 2011, the purse was $1.5 million and the winner received $500,000. Three years later, the Race to the CME Globe season-long points race was introduced with a $1 million bonus. That bonus has since been folded into the official prize money with a winner-take-all format.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek, golf coordinator for the USA Today Network and lives in Round Rock. Golfweek's Adam Schupak and Beth Ann Nichols also contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Central Texas charity golf event by Sergio Garcia nets $2 million
