In an effort to raise money for the “Els For Autism” foundation, a dream squad of 11 professional golfers joined together on the course on Tuesday.
“The players on the Champions Tour, for the most part, are all legends,” caddy and event organizer Martin Courtois said.
He wasn’t kidding – the lineup is pretty stacked.
Golf legends like Fred Couples, John Daly, Rocco Mediate, Jim Furyk, Nancy Lopez, and Els will be participating.
“He’s one of the game’s greatest players ever, 19 wins, 4 majors,” Courtois said. “His resume is certainly up there in the top 10.”
When Els isn’t on the golf course, he spends his time working with “Els For Autism,” a charitable foundation that he started that helps people with autism all over the world. It was made in 2009, when his son Ben had an autism disorder.
“Our son has autism so we decided to build a center for kids that have autism,” Els told ABC Action News sports anchor Kyle Burger. “It’s an ongoing process, but we have the capacity for 300 kids and they range from ages 3 to 64.”
“He and his wife do a phenomenal job,” Couples said. “My wife-to-be is playing with Nancy Lopez.”
For the second year in a row, Black Diamond Ranch will be the site of the charity golf tournament.
“It’s really exciting. It was really exciting last year to see all these names we known for years,” club member Sandy Hanson said. “You know, famous people coming to play on our course, warm-up on our range, and talk about the game.”
These 11 legends have a combined total of 151 tour victories and 15 major championships. Lopez has amassed a total of 48 victories on her own. However, this time they are all on the same course at once. The plays will be huge and the views will be stuinning.
“They put us out overlooking that quarry,” Couples said. “So spectacular. I played it for the first time last year. Came out early, played nine holes yesterday. It’s beautiful.”
This dream team of pros helped to raise over $300,000.
“They are very giving of their time and the public doesn’t really know it, which is true philanthropy, when you don’t let people know,” Courtois added.
Read the original article on ABC Action News.
