One Putt Earns $5,000 for the NCGA Foundation
On June 14, the Frys.com Open and CordeValle hosted an outing for CordeValle members and corporate sponsors with more than 120 players attending. The event kicked off in fine fashion as 25-time PGA Tour winner Johnny Miller and 18-time LPGA Tour champion Dottie Pepper put on an hour-long instructional clinic. The NBC analysts were in town for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach – only 45 miles south of CordeValle.
Also participating in the event was Fry’s Electronics founders, Dave and John Fry and Kathy Kolder. Kolder is the Frys.com Open’s tournament chairperson – the only female chairperson on Tour – and she wanted to do something special for all of the women who attended this event. She gathered the 12 women golfers as well as Dottie Pepper and hosted a putting contest with a $5,000 donation made in the winner’s name to the charity of their choice. While Dottie Pepper gave it a good run, it was Lyn Nelson, CEO of Northern California Golf Association (NCGA), who won the contest. She was the only contestant to sink the 35-foot sweeping putt. “When we were drawing numbers, I pulled number two. That gave me only one look at the break of the putt,” said Nelson.
“When I saw that Dottie Pepper would be in the mix it certainly added another level of pressure, after all she has made many clutch putts in her incredible career that were worth far more than $5,000. It wasn’t an easy putt, breaking right to left and was some 35 feet long. I remember standing over the putt, thinking take one slow breath and just let the stroke flow. When I initially hit it, I thought I missed my line too far to the right but it kept working back to the hole.”
It was to nobody’s surprise when Nelson (pictured) announced her charity of choice – the NCGA Foundation. The NCGA Foundation will partner with the Frys.com Open to assist with registering volunteers from the NCGA’s nearly 160,000 members. The organization will also support the event by marketing ticket sales to its members with a portion of those sales going to the NCGA Foundation. Its flagship program, Youth on Course, facilitated more than 65,000 rounds of golf and nearly 90,000 buckets of balls for kids in 2009. Youth on Course kids pay between $2-5 for a round of golf. The Foundation then pays the difference to the golf course. The Foundation currently has more than 100 golf courses in Northern California that support this program by generously discounting green fees, allowing the Foundation to subsidize rounds at a reasonable rate.
Giving back to the local community is at the forefront of the Frys.com Open and the PGA Tour. Organizations such as the NCGA Foundation and the First Tee of San Jose are instrumental in introducing youth to the game of golf. The Frys.com Open is very proud to support such a worthy cause.