Charities Hit a Hole-In-One with The Valspar Championship
When the world’s best golfers hit the links during The Valspar Championship presented by BB&T at Innisbrook Resort each spring, they’re not the only ones with their eyes on the prize: more than 100 charities from throughout the Tampa Bay area benefit from the week-long tournament and its Copperhead Charities. Beginning each September prior to the March tournament, more than 60 local charities take pledges through the Birdies for Charity pro-gram. Over the six-month timeframe, they ask for pledges based upon the number of birdies the players as a field make during the week’s tournament. At the end of the tournament week, the birdies are tallied and the donations come rolling in, with The Valspar Championship upping the ante, adding an additional 15 percent to each charity’s total. Over the course of The 2016 Valspar Championship (March 7–13), 1,039 birdies were made. The breadth of charities that benefit from The Valspar Championship range widely: local aquariums and zoos, children’s hospitals and high schools, four local chapters of the First Tee Program and Habitat for Humanity, and many more in between. Leading the tournament’s charitable charge are the Copperheads— “…more than 150 business and civic leaders in the community, ranging from millennials to those more established who have been in the community for a long time,” said Tracy West, tournament director of The Valspar Championship and president of Copperhead Charities. Over nearly 40 years, the Copperheads have raised more than $34 million for local charities. Last summer, the Copperheads teamed up with tournament staff and volunteers to build a Habitat for Humanity house in St. Petersburg, using proceeds from the 2015 tournament. “It was our first chance to build a Habitat house as a group,” said West. “It was one of those moments to be really hands-on a project; to not only fund it, but put in the sweat equity as well. It was very fulfilling.” The tournament’s title sponsor helped out with the house as well: Valspar is the National Partner with Habitat for Humanity International and donates paint for every Habitat house built within the U.S.; more than 2.5 million gallons of paint have been donated to date. “In addition to this charitable support, we also support our U.S. military in a major way,” West added. “We offer more than 4,000 complimentary tournament tickets to local active duty and retired military and their families, as well as host a hospitality tent on the 16th hole. It’s a wonderful thing that Copperhead Charities does in support of our military.”
CloseUp: Jordan Spieth Returns to the Copperhead
Last year was a very good year (to put it modestly) for professional golfer Jordan Spieth, and this year is shaping up to be just as spectacular—at press time he was ranked World Number 1, won the 2016 Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a 30-under-par performance, and just finished competing in The Valspar Championship earlier this month. Spieth is very familiar with The Valspar Championship, as it turns out: his first win of 2015 came at the tournament, and he did so with a 30-foot birdie putt during a playoff with Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair. “It was huge,” said Spieth when asked about the importance of winning The 2015 Valspar Championship. “It was the first time I had ever made a putt to win a professional tournament.” The Valspar Championship win was just the beginning of Spieth’s 2015 trajectory in the golf world. He went on to win his first major, the 2015 Masters Tournament, nonetheless, and tied the 72-hole record set by Tiger Woods in 1997; he also became the second youngest to win the Masters, behind Woods. When Spieth won the 2015 U.S. Open, he was the youngest champion since Bobby Jones’ win in 1923, and only the sixth golfer to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year, the first male to have done so since Gene Sarazen in 1922. Additional 2015 wins include the John Deere Classic and The TOUR Championship, and he had very strong showings at the British Open and the PGA Championship. Spieth’s successes on the greens garnered him the 2015 FedEx Cup and 2015 PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. During a press conference prior to the start of The Valspar Championship, Spieth was asked about defending his title and playing on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort. “It would be spectacular [to repeat as champion],” he said. “I think it’s a challenge. The thing that’s toughest about it is getting over where you were the previous year, and just forgetting about it. “I am excited about playing the Copperhead Course,” Spieth continued. “I think the tougher courses play in my favor, and I thoroughly enjoy playing there with great memories going back to 2013.” Asked to further expound upon the Copperhead Course, Spieth explained, “It’s a tremendous challenge. In the course of a season, there aren’t many courses that present the challenge the Copperhead Course does. “It’s fair, but you have to hit the ball in both directions,” he continued. “You have to control the ball in swirling winds, and then you have to control your speed on the greens they get sneaky quick. “I really do enjoy it because it is such a challenge, but a fair challenge.” It’s hard to remember, with all of his successes and insight, that Spieth is just 22 years old.