FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 14, 2010
National Association for Home Care & Hospice Becomes
Title Sponsor of Champions Tour’s 2010 Pebble Beach Event
Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach set for Labor Day weekend
MONTEREY, CA- The PGA TOUR’s Champions Tour, The First Tee and Monterey Peninsula Foundation today announced the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) will serve as title sponsor for the 2010 Champions Tour event at Pebble Beach over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3-5). The tournament will be known as the Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.
Entering its seventh year, this unique event features junior golfers and amateurs competing side-by-side with Champions Tour players at renowned Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course. It serves as a showcase for The First Tee, an organization dedicated to impacting the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.
Founded in 1982, NAHC is the nation’s largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices and home care aide organizations. The partnership with the TOUR will serve as a platform to raise public awareness and support for in-home health care services and hospice programs across the country.
“We are honored to have the support of the PGA TOUR in spreading the word about the good work done by the angels of hospice and home care,” said Val J. Halamandaris, President of the NAHC. “The TOUR’s focus has not only been to promote excellence in golf, but to promote the values of caring, integrity and service to humanity. We have similar values and are proud to partner with the TOUR to extend their good work.”
“Thanks to NAHC, the 2010 tournament will showcase this highly successful youth-development program to a global audience and celebrate the values upon which both Home Care & Hospice and The First Tee are based,” states Monterey Peninsula Foundation Board Chairman Clint Eastwood.
“The opportunity for our participants to play alongside Champions Tour players, many of whom are World Golf Hall of Fame members, at a significant setting like Pebble Beach is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Joe Louis Barrow, Jr., CEO of The First Tee. “We have the highest respect for caregivers who provide in-home healthcare and supportive services and we are grateful to NAHC for their commitment to this year's tournament. Their support allows The First Tee’s mission to be shared with a broader audience.”
The 2010 Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach will air on the GOLF CHANNEL Friday and Saturday, September 3-4 from 6:30-8:30 pm ET and 7:00-9:30 pm ET on Sunday, September 5. Jeff Sluman is defending champion and a two-time winner of the event.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.thefirstteeopen.com/.
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About the NAHC
The National Association for Homecare (NAHC) is a non-profit organization that represents the nation's 25,000 homecare and hospice organizations. NAHC also advocates for the more than two million nurses, therapists, aides and other caregivers employed by such organizations to provide in-home services to some 10 million Americans each year who are infirm, chronically ill, disabled and dying. Homecare and hospice caregivers every year drive more than 4.8 billion miles to care for individuals who are confined to home and cannot care for themselves. Along with its advocacy, NAHC provides information to help its members provide the highest quality of care and is committed to excellence in every respect. www.nahc.org and www.caring.org.
About Monterey Peninsula Foundation:
Monterey Peninsula Foundation is a charitable foundation which disburses funds from the proceeds of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR and The First Tee Open on the Champions Tour. MPF focuses on improving the quality of life in Monterey County and surrounding areas. Since the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am came to the Monterey Peninsula in 1947, over $85 million has been raised for charity.
In 2004 The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach was introduced to serve as a showcase for The First Tee whose global mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.
(www.montereypeninsulafoundation.org; www.attpbgolf.com; www.thefirstteeopen.com)
About The First Tee
The First Tee (www.thefirsttee.org) is an initiative of the World Golf Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in St. Augustine, Fla. at World Golf Village, home of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Its mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf. Since its inception in 1997, The First Tee has introduced the game of golf and its values to more than 3.5 million participants in 50 states, 3,400 elementary schools and four international locations - Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Singapore. Former President George H. W. Bush serves as honorary chairman. The First Tee Founding Partners are LPGA, the Masters Tournament, PGA of America, PGA TOUR and the USGA.
About the Champions Tour
Collectively, the Champions Tour has the most recognizable and accomplished players in the game with 16 World Golf Hall of Fame members actively competing in its events and numerous other major championship winners among its members. The Champions Tour is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The Champions Tour will conduct 26 official Charles Schwab Cup events in 2010 offering $51.5 million in official prize money, with the average tournament purse of $1.98 million. The Champions Tour's primary purpose is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for its members, to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events generate significant sums of money for charity. The Commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Mike Stevens is President of the Champions Tour. TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The web site address is PGATOUR.com.
CONTACTS:
Val J. Halamandaris
NAHC
(202) 547-7424
vjh@nahc.org
Cathy Scherzer
Monterey Peninsula Foundation
(831 649-1533
cscherzer@attpbgolf.com
Mark Williams
Champions Tour
(904) 280-5058
markwilliams@pgatourhq.com
Jane Fader
The First Tee
(904) 940-4009
jfader@thefirsttee.org
