San Diego’s biggest celebrity tournament is now a real Brees

by Team FG

Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees took the New Orleans Saints to the pinnacle of NFL success earlier this year, but the former Chargers quarterback is still a SoCal guy through and through. The world champion signal-caller is now host of the San Diego Celebrity Championship at Morgan Run Resort & Club in Rancho Santa Fe, May 20-23, giving this event the cred to compete with that other biggest celeb-studded fundraising tournament at Edgewood Tahoe. With a field that’s every bit as impressive, the San Diego area’s biggest non-PGA Tour fundraiser is certainly an apt appetizer for Tahoe’s televised midsummer main course.

Now in its 12th year, the event formerly known as the Celebrity Classic hosted by Stan Humphries, will benefit the Brees Dream Foundation established in 2003 by Drew and his wife, Brittany. The tournament brings together over 50 of the best celebrity golfers in the world, competing for a purse of $100,000. Leading the confirmed celeb list as of late February are newly minted NFL Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, who will tee it up alongside fellow athletes such as Marshall Faulk, John Elway, Ivan Lendl, Jim McMahon, Joe Morgan, Trent Dilfer, Michael Chang, Marcus Allen, Mike Schmidt and Mario Lemieux. Actor Jack Wagner, comedian Ray Romano and several other Hollywood types are also expected to play. Former champions include Jack Marin, Rick Rhoden, Mickey Tettleton, Grant Fuhr and Dan Quinn — names any fan of the Tahoe event will recognize.

By landing a homegrown superstar like Brees as the tournament’s host, organizers have gone a long way to meeting their objective to provide an unforgettable experience for sponsors and attendees while maximizing charitable donations.

The Celebrity Championship consists of a two-day Celebrity-Amateur tournament May 21-22, nightly parties, and a 36-hole, celebrity-only competition May 22-23. Foursomes go for $12,500; individual spots are $3,500.

The general public is welcome to all three days of the tournament and good-any-day tickets are $10 online or at the gate. For more information, visit www.celebritychampionship.com. FG

Published in FG Magazine, March 2010

AMERICA'S MOST HONORED MAGAZINE AT ING AWARDS
It’s getting to be a habit, and we can’t seem to help ourselves. For the fourth straight year, FG racked up an impressive load of hardware at the International Network of Golf Media Awards announced at January’s PGA Merchandise Show. We scored six awards in all, besting writers and photographers from such national publications as GolfWeek and Sports Illustrated. First-place honors went to Vic Williams in Competition Writing for his piece on Tiger’s historic U.S. Open victory (July-August 2008), Joann Dost for her epic shot of Tiger’s 72nd hole putt on Open Sunday; and Calder Chism for his “Weekend Wisdom” drawing of Vic in the May-June 2008 issue. Outstanding Achievement awards went to Williams and Darin Bunch for Travel Writing. Other FG contributors who took home awards included Tony Dear and Bob Seligman. Next year, look for the clean sweep.