They were meaningful visits.
A PGA Tour delegation, including Commissioner Jay Monahan, were in Atlanta on Monday to present the East Lake Foundation with a donation of more than $2.5 million from the 2017 Tour Championship. In between the announcement at the Drew Charter School and another speaking engagement, the group stopped by Oakland Cemetery to visit the grave of Bobby Jones.
“(It was) a very powerful experience,” Monahan said.
The Tour Championship has been held in Atlanta for the past 13 years, the past 11 as the PGA Tour’s season-ending FedEx Cup championship event. It is held at East Lake Golf Club, the home course of the legendary golfer.
The day began at the Drew Charter School. The donation to the East Lake Foundation will primarily benefit the school and the First the program.
“We’ve been playing professional golf here, the FedEx Cup playoffs for the last 11 years with the Tour Championship, for a long period of time,” Monahan said. “Our focus has always been giving back and assisting the great work that the East Lake Foundation does. It’s just going to continue to support their great work.
“To see those young boys and girls and to see how that school as impacted their lives, see how involved they are in their community and how aware they are, it’s gratifying. It’s the best players in the world who come here to Atlanta every single September competing for the FedEx Cup but it’s really this $2.5 million and what we do for the community that is really our scorecard.”
The PGA Tour counts $27 million given to the East Lake Foundation and local non-profits since 1998.
With the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Tour Championship has been equated to golf’s Super Bowl as a single champion is crowned after the year-long season with a $10 million bonus to the winner.
This year’s event will be held Sept. 19-23. It will likely move to August in 2019.
The Drew Charter school was opened in 2000. Last year, the inaugural class graduated from high school with all of the seniors graduated on time and were accepted to colleges.
“We didn’t want to leave,” Monahan said of the visit to the school. “You see these kids and they all have their unique stories, very powerful stories, and when you start to talk to them you realize all these years, all these fans who have come through to watch the tournament, all these companies like Coca-Cola and Southern Company, everybody who supports the tournament, they have enabled that. Our players certainly have enabled that. It leaves you wanting to do a lot more.”
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