CVS golf tournament moves back a week, hands out $1.3 million to charities

[Rusty]

WOONSOCKET –– The CVS Caremark Charity Classic is moving backwards, not with its tournament but in its dates.

Tournament officials held their annual year-ending news conference Monday at CVS headquarters, and the big news was that the event once again topped the $1-million mark in raising money for charities. Checks totaling $1,335,500 were handed out to 64 southern New England charities. That brings the total raised to $13 million in 10 years.
It will not be the last time the tournament, the biggest sporting event held in Rhode Island, will help. Co-hosts Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade, announced along with CVS officials Tom Ryan and Eileen Howard-Dunn, that plans for the 11th CVS are being put in place, with a significant change.

``The tournament will be held June 28 and 29,” Faxon said. ``That’s following the Travelers Championship in Hartford. The last two years we had followed the U.S. Open. This is a week later.”

This year, the Open is being played at Pebble Beach in California. Getting players who finish the Open on Sunday to fly across the country and take part in the CVS the next day would have severely limited the ability to attract big-name stars. So, it was decided to move back one week.
``I think it helps our field. It helps the golf course. School is out, so it helps the volunteers. Everything about it is good,” Faxon said.

As has been the case in recent years, the event will feature LPGA as well as PGA stars, apparently in growing numbers. The event started with two women three years ago. Last year it had four and, rather than having the women play together, had four mixed teams and six two-man teams.
``We’re going to have 14 men and six women,” Faxon said of the 2010 event. He and Ryan backed off that a bit later, saying that tournament officials were going to hold a meeting immediately after the press conference to set their game plan. There is no doubt, though, that LPGA stars will continue to be featured.

``We’re always changing it a little bit,” Andrade said. ``I think bringing in women when we did was perfect. Now the question is do we keep it the way we had it, or do we add more? We don’t know. We’ll talk about that.”
``We really want to keep working the field to make sure we have new players, the best players we can get,” Faxon said. ``Big names that haven’t been here before.”

``Michelle Wie is somebody that we’re going to try and get,” Andrade said.

``Michelle, Lorena Ochoa, how about a Nancy Lopez? Annika (Sorenstam) would she play after having a baby?” Faxon commented.

Whoever takes part helps raise considerable money. The $1.3 million raised this year is a slight decrease from last year. But with such difficult economic times, charities like the American Heart Association, Meeting Street School, Bradley Hospital and the Salvation Army, welcome the help.
``It’s more important now than ever,” Ryan said. ``We’re happy to continue to do it.”

After the meetings with CVS officials, Faxon and Andrade have a session Tuesday with the board of directors of their own charity, the Andrade-Faxon Charities for Children. That organization, which is separate from the CVS event, is approaching for $10-million mark in monies raised. ``We expect to distribute about $300,000 this year,” Andrade said.

CVS golf tournament moves back a week, hands out $1.3 million to charities | Golf | projo.com | The Providence Journal

[IceCat]

For the LPGA set, this event would follow their 2nd major, the LPGA Championship in Rochester, and at the beginning of the week of the Jamie Farr in Toledo. The ladies who choose to take part in RI will likely be skipping Toledo unless they like playing golf 10 days out of 11 (assuming they make the cut in both tournaments bracketing the CVS). The PGA Tour players will be between the Travelers in CT and the AT&T National in PA, while the Champions Tour invitees will be coming off the Dick's Sporting Goods in upstate NY and won't have to fire another shot in anger until late July at the Senior Open at Carnoustie.

Kevin