Lining Up the Skins Game - Thursday, August 21, 2008
Golf fans will get to see four top-50 players next week
Thursday, August 21, 2008
By Chris Wagner
Staff writer
The inaugural Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge is expected to draw about 2,000 fans to Turning Stone Resort’s Atunyote course on Tuesday to watch a skins game between some of the PGA Tour’s top players.
Begay, the golf ambassador for the Turning Stone Resort Championship, has arranged the charity event to raise money and awareness for his Native American causes.
In addition to Begay, the field will feature two of the top-10 players in golf’s world rankings, Vijay Singh (5) and Stewart Cink (8), plus two more in the top 50, Mike Weir (38) and Camilo Villegas (42).
All have had seasons in which they’ve won between $1.5 million and $3.9 million and two of them have claimed tournament titles. Singh won the World Golf Championship’s Bridgestone Invitational on Aug. 3 and Cink was victorious in June in the Travelers Championship.
Villegas, a 26-year-old Colombian known for his good looks and trademark way of lining up putts (from a near one-armed push-up position), almost pulled off the biggest victory of all. He tied for fourth in the recent PGA Championship after weekend rounds of 67-68 left him only four strokes behind winner Padraig Harrington.
Singh, Cink, Weir and Villegas will be appearing the same week as the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of four playoff events on the PGA Tour schedule. Between the third and fourth playoff tournaments, Cink will be representing the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup.
Steve Mahler,advertising manager for Turning Stone, said Wednesday that tickets sales are approaching the goal of 2,000.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at Turning Stone’s Box Office — 361-SHOW (7469) — or at the gate the day of the event. The cost is $35 per person.
Parking will be at the course in the lots near the 13th hole, with access off Route 31 in Vernon. Gates open at 10 a.m. and the skins game will begin at 11 a.m.
The players will be competing for a $500,000 purse. Hole values will increase as the event progresses. The first six holes will be worth $10,000 each, the next six $20,000 each, the next five $50,000 and the final hole $70,000. If there is no outright winner on a particular hole, the money will carry over to the next hole.
Proceeds from the event will benefit The Notah Begay III Foundation. Established in 2005, it has helped provide a golf program at Tohajiilee High School, a Navajo Nation community, and a soccer program for the San Felipe Pueblo. Both are in Begay’s native New Mexico.
