A record $US124 million ($NZ235m) was raised for charity by the PGA Tour and its tournaments during 2008 despite the global financial crisis.
Events on the PGA Tour, the satellite Nationwide Tour and the senior Champions Tour have generated an all-time total of $US1.38 billion in charitable donations. “Even as the economic conditions worsened, our tournaments did a terrific job of generating revenue to achieve another record year for charitable giving,” Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of the job each of these tournaments has done under particularly trying economic circumstances.” The Phoenix Open, held in Scottsdale, Arizona, set a Tour charity record for a single event last year by raising $US8.6 million.
However he said the Tour would be recommitting itself to charity “like never before”.