Hometown Hero: Club Car Championship

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Professional golf made an exciting return to Savannah last month with the fifth annual Club Car Championship at The Landings Club.

But now we are seeing the real impact of the event on the community.

Heroism in sports doesn’t always come from the field of play.

Cheyenne Overby, the Club Car Championship Tournament Director, said “absolutely our largest giving season this year.”

Sometimes it’s found behind the scenes, in the efforts to make the games more meaningful than their scores.

“The involvement of the corporate side of Savannah in this event to help all the charities the PGA Tour is known for contributing to is just icing on the cake for having this great event here in Savannah,” said Dylan Cox with the Club Car Championship sponsor advisory board.

Organizers of Savannah’s Club Car Championship said thank you for that involvement Monday with their annual Sponsor Appreciation Day and they revealed a record result of the financial support of the event - $340,000 that will be distributed into the local community through charitable donations.

“Really exciting. A big jump from last year. That has a lot to do with Club Car and Club Car bringing their business partners into this and our local community continuing to support us.”

The local business community supports events like pro-ams and kids clinics around the Korn Ferry tournament which helped bring the tournament’s cumulative charitable giving to $800,000 in its first five years.

This year’s donations will go to 10 local non-profits, including Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to family members of soldiers killed in combat.

“Let’s just say they are probably responsible for at least one scholarship for a family. And that means a whole difference to somebody’s family,” said Dave Simons, the executive director of Folds of Honor Savannah.

While the charities are considered partners of the tournament, the local sponsors are partners in Club Car’s giving - WTOC Hometown Heroes putting money into a hometown event to help organizations right here at home.

“That’s the Savannah way. It really is. I’ve never been in a town that just gives so much and the people and the business community all come around together to help what causes they can.”

“Gradual progression of the community getting involved and the sponsors jumping onboard made this thing get bigger really quickly. And I think it’s one of the premier events in town now.”

With a local impact that keeps getting bigger every year.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the local business community to put a lot of faith and trust in us and they continue to build on that. And they see the results of it when we do this day.”

Cheyenne Overby, the Club Car Championship’s tournament director, expects the event’s cumulative contribution to local charities will go past $1 million during next year’s tournament.

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