Today I'm going to brag on Nationwide for a bit. Nationwide is the title sponsor of the PGA's Nationwide Tour, a sort of minor leagues for the real PGA Tour. The Nationwide Tour Championship is being played at the Barona Creek Golf Club this week. That's in San Diego. Unless you've been living under rock, you know this area of the country was devastated by wildfires, started by some kid playing with matches. This is what Nationwide's doing about it:
Nationwide and the PGA TOUR created "Birdies for Relief," a program that will donate a minimum of $200,000 to the Red Cross Fire Relief Fund, established to provide direct support to victims of the recent wildfires. For every birdie made during the event held at Barona Creek Golf Club, Nationwide and the PGA Tour will donate $100 each, for a total of $200 per birdie. Both organizations have committed to a guarantee of at least $100,000 each or $200,000 total. The four-round championship begins on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
In addition to the donations made through the program, Nationwide donated 40 Pro-Am playing spots in support of local relief efforts. The Championship, via the Century Club of San Diego, which is managing the Tour at Barona Creek, extended invitations to San Diego firefighters to participate in the Barona Pro-Am. Twenty-eight will be participating, along with eight junior golfers from San Diego's First Tee Program, the Pro Kids Golf Academy. Each firefighter will be paired with a member of the Nationwide Tour.
The Century Club of San Diego also announced the decision to grant free admission to the Tour and encourage spectators to make a donation to the Red Cross Fire Relief Fund at the gate in lieu of a ticket purchase.
So there you go. Instead of trying to actually make money off the Tour's biggest event, the PGA and Nationwide are basically forgoing any profit and donating the money to charity instead. I think that's pretty cool.
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