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 When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Goosen knew it was bad because he had gone through Hurricane Charley the year before in Orlando. At the Tour Championship he approached Zurich Classic officials and asked what he could do. He and other golfers have stepped up to help New Orleans in its attempt to recover from one of the most devastating natural disasters this country has experienced. Phil Mickelson donated $250,000 to charitable organizations in the area and pledged his winnings from the event to further help the cause. Mickelson finished tied for 15th — good for $81,720 — and he kicked in another $168,280 to make it an even $250,000. Area natives David Toms and Kelly Gibson have done incredible amounts of work to help the city. Toms’ foundation and the Humana Foundation donated $100,000 each to four children’s charities in the area, and Gibson teamed with Newport Beach resident Cary Sowers, who is marketing director of Hole-In-One Catering, to help feed those who were working during the storm. Gibson has since set up www.feedtherelief.org and started soliciting funds from PGA Tour players. “It’s easy to give money,” Mickelson said. “But to see what David, Kelly and Hal [Sutton] have been doing by donating their time is truly amazing.” This is not a marquee event. Most top-tier players skip it because they like the long break after the Masters. But this year was different, and the fact that more top players didn’t enter was a disappointment. Tiger Woods gets a pass. He had an ailing father and has his own charity event the same weekend. TigerJam has raised money for the Tiger Woods Foundation and his learning center, and his foundation started the Katrina Education Fund to aid victims of the disaster. Jason Gore also gets a pass. Gore, who lives in Valencia, was committed to attending Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena to help start a First Tee program. The most glaring absence was Vijay Singh, who has played here before and was on the road the week before. Why he chose to skip this event is a mystery to everybody. Ernie Els also could have shown up. He was in London checking on a course he helped redesign for a European Tour event, but he played in the Wachovia and Byron Nelson. Why not come a week earlier and play in New Orleans, too? John Daly also was a no-show. He played the week before in Houston, and it’s only a five-hour drive from there to New Orleans in a luxury tour bus that his success in professional golf allowed him to purchase. I’m not buying the excuse of some players that the tournament didn’t fit in their schedule. They had eight months to rearrange it and should have made every effort to be there. The PGA Tour and tournament officials worked hard to impress upon players how important this event was. The PGA Tour started the soft sell before the end of the season and tournament officials traveled to other sites to persuade as many players as possible. Unfortunately, some players didn’t heed the call and decided to take the week off. They missed a good golf tournament — and a lot more. Many players took the opportunity to tour storm-damaged areas. It gave them perspective that will stay with them forever. Mickelson flew his wife and children to New Orleans, and they stayed a day after the event to let it all sink in. “I wanted my children to see the damage first-hand because it’s something they’re going to read about throughout their school years,” Mickelson said on his website. “I had never seen such destruction. I didn’t realize that New Orleans is shaped like a bowl and how many thousands of homes were flooded. We drove for miles and miles on the freeway and on city streets and virtually every home, every business was wiped out.” It’s unfortunate more golfers didn’t have the desire to see it. I guess they had something better to do. John Reger has been covering professional golf since 1995. If you have a question or comment, e-mail him at cascribe@aol.com. |
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