Golf: Big Easy plans big for autism patients
Famously known as The Big Easy, Ernie Els recently announced a 32-tournament series to raise funds for children suffering from autism. The South African disclosed the plan in a press briefing in Honolulu.
41-year-old addressed the press on Tuesday and shared his idea of raising funds for the construction of a rehabilitation centre for autism patients. In pursuit of the plan, he announced a fundraiser by the name of ‘Els for Autism Golf Challenge’. As per details, there will be two-player teams who will compete in 32 tournaments. There will be no entry fees for the participants. Instead, the individual teams will raise a minimum amount of $2,500. The duo, which scores the lowest points in the entire series and the largest amount of fund, will proceed towards the two-round final.
The finalists will get to play alongside Ernie Els and his wife in Las Vegas. Moreover, they will earn a luxury golf trip to South Africa and a six-day trip to Ireland.
Els, whose own eight-year-old son suffers from Autism said, “Years from now, people may remember me as a golfer and a major champion, but I'd like also to be remembered as somebody who took the issue of autism and did something with it.”
This is not the first time that Els has pursued a fundraiser like this. Infact every year, Els foundation for Autism hosts a pro-am session during the Florida tour and raises over $1 million. Few more plans are in the pipeline for the cause, as Els is working on them with his corporate partners Callaway Golf and TPC network.
To support this cause, Els plans to launch a website which will help in spreading awareness on worldwide level.
Commenting on the issue Els added, “This will help a lot. We have a couple of other things in the pipeline. This year I want to get the site, and by the start of next year, I want to start building.”
Apart from being the number one golfer in the world, Ernie Els is eyeing to catch a title of being the number one humanitarian. And he indeed is going in the right direction.
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