Ernie Els set to host a charity event in Long Island
Ernie Els, the winner of this year’s Open Championship, plans to host a charity event in Long Island, to raise funds for "Els for Autism" and his upcoming project, Autism Center for Excellence in Florida.
Last week, he participated in the first leg of the US PGA Tour Playoffs at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale. Afterwards, he decided to hang around in the region to host an event that holds great importance for him.
Originally, he planned to start the tournament last year. However, the hurricane spoilt the schedule and he had to postpone the event to the current year.
This time, he has succeeded in arranging 40 professional players from the Web.com Tour as well as from the tier one PGA Tour. The field also includes Cliff Kresge - the father of an autistic son.
While talking to the media, he told that the participants have paid a huge amount of money that will help him develop the Autism Center for Excellence.
The new project is a part of the Els for Autism Foundation, that was founded in 2009 by Els himself alongwith his wife, Liezl Els.
Moreover, he also confirmed that the players were not paid for making appearances in the tournament.
“The members are paying quite a bit of money to play, and all that money goes to autism in my foundation," the 27-time European Tour winner said. “The neat thing about this day is that it's great for these players to meet some of the members," he added.
"These are the movers and shakers of Manhattan and a lot of big corporations. Not only is it beneficial to us, it could be beneficial to them. You have a good day with one of the guys, you never know what might happen. All in all, it's very positive”.
He also told that he had a meeting with the sponsor RBC at Deepdale and many members came to show their support for the event.
The support from RBC was praised by many, especially when the event is scheduled right before the start of the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
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