PLAYERS dedicated to First Coast, starts new initiatives

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- At a time when local charitable organizations have less and less funding available due to economic restraints, tournament officials with THE PLAYERS Championship announced new initiatives as part of their continued commitment to charity. THE PLAYERS, which takes place May 4-10, 2009, on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., is more committed than ever to bolstering its charitable ties throughout Northeast Florida.

In addition to the nearly 100 charities supported by the tournament on an annual basis, for the first time in PLAYERS history, the tournament's volunteer force of nearly 2,000 is uniting to support a single First Coast charity. The commitment has been dubbed "Mission: IMPACT," and its goal is to rally the volunteers of THE PLAYERS around one specific charitable cause each year. Volunteers will make donations earmarked to help the organization serve its clients. Volunteers are currently voting on which local non-profit they will chose as the Mission: IMPACT charity for 2009. Voting closes March 30.

"As volunteers, we are united in our support of THE PLAYERS' ability to make a difference in our community," said THE PLAYERS Volunteer Chairman Tommy Douglas. "While the volunteer force has a tremendous influence on the millions in contributions that THE PLAYERS makes each year, we realized we can take even a greater role in giving back. Now -- as a unified group -- we are taking the PGA TOUR's goal of 'giving back' one step further through Mission: IMPACT and look forward to making a significant contribution to the charity the volunteers select at the end of this year's event."

Tournament officials also announced new multi-year grant recipients for 2009: Baptist Health of Northeast Florida; Beaches Community Healthcare, a Sulzbacher Clinic; The Boselli Foundation; The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens; Junior Achievement; PACE Center for Girls; Project SOS; and St. Vincent's Medical Center.

"Now more than ever, THE PLAYERS is dedicated to helping charitable organizations throughout the community," said Executive Director Jay Monahan. "With the state of our economy, charities are finding funding increasingly difficult to come by. THE PLAYERS will continue to search for new ways to increase the size of our charitable footprint and ensure that this event continues to be one our community can be proud of all year long."