Teenage Cancer Trust, the Official Charity of the BMW PGA Championship, will benefit to the tune of a record-breaking £100,000 following the success of the 2015 event won by Korea’s Byeong-Hun An at Wentworth Club.
A variety of fundraising initiatives across the week of The European Tour’s flagship event raised the substantial sums and a further donation from the Tour’s charitable arm, the Tour Players Foundation brought the grand total to the £100,000 mark.
The final sum underlined the generosity of a number of benefactors, including the world’s leading golfers, amateur celebrities, sponsor partners and the general public, and ensures that patients under the care of Teenage Cancer Trust will receive the best possible support, treatment and chances of survival.
As part of Teenage Cancer Trust’s nationwide network of 28 specialist cancer units, one of those units is located at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey, close to the iconic Wentworth venue which annually hosts the BMW PGA Championship.
Teenage Cancer Trust benefited considerably from the full range of fundraising initiatives which captured the public’s imagination during the BMW PGA Championship, with the largest cash sum - £39,248 - coming from donations made by spectators in exchange for the Championship’s Official Programme.
A further £28,101 was raised from the popular Celebrity Pro-Am which preceded the four-day golfing extravaganza, made up of £24,500 from the professionals taking part, who donated their appearance fees to the Official Charity, and £2601 from their amateur partners’ attempts to ‘Hit the Green’ at the 14th hole. A further £1,000 came from the auctioning of a Caddie Experience with Raphael Cabrera-Bello.
The BMW PGA Mega Putt Challenge sponsored by Scotty Cameron, Titleist’s world famous putter brand again proved a huge success in the Championship Village, raising £12,360 from willing spectators making a donation for attempting hole 61 foot putt – one for every year of the Championship – on the specially constructed model of the first hole of Wentworth’s West Course.
Additionally, Hugo Boss showed their support of Teenage Cancer Trust through the sale of a selected line within the BOSS Green collection as worn during the Championship by Martin Kaymer, raising a total of £5,000. The HSBC Road Hole Bunker Challenge also raised £3,000 with special donations for bunker shots holed by participants. Official Chocolatiers of the BMW PGA, Lindt also kindly donated £1,806, their takings on Wednesday of the Championship.
The collective total of all the generous support from sponsors and spectators alike was then bolstered by a donation from the Tour Players Foundation to reach a record breaking donation for the BMW PGA Championship.
Siobhan Dunn, Chief Executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to BMW PGA Championship for raising such a tremendous sum of money last month. The funds raised will allow us to provide specialist care and support to young people with cancer.
“We have made huge progress in making sure that young people with cancer have the best treatment, care and support but there is so much more to do. Right now, for every young person we help, there is another we can’t. Events like this help raise the funds we need to reach even more of the seven young people aged between 13 and 24 who receive a devastating diagnosis of cancer every day.
"On behalf of every young person with cancer that we support, I would like to say a big thank you to BMW PGA Championship for choosing to support Teenage Cancer Trust. We’re not a large charity and heavily rely on donations. We’re honoured to have been involved in such a prestigious event.”
David Park, Charity Executive of The European Tour, said: “We at The European Tour are delighted to be able to announce the amount raised for Teenage Cancer Trust and to thank everyone who contributed to the record grand total. Without the support of everyone from our European Tour Members, Sponsors and Spectators we would not be able to support such worthy cause local causes as the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey. It’s fantastic to see the legacy created by our flagship event.”
