Nationwide Tour Players Cup

 
 
West Virginia Golf Charities Selected as PGA TOUR Charity of the Year (Jan. 14, 2005)
 
January 28, 2005
The Nationwide Tour has selected the Pete Dye West Virginia Classic as its Charity of the Year while Sam Purdy of the Canadian PGA Championship is the Volunteer of the Year for 2004.

"These two selections reward our events and volunteers for providing us an opportunity to bring the Nationwide Tour to towns across the globe," said Bill Calfee, chief of operations for the Tour. "All of our events are run with the idea of giving back to the local community and making this announcement is our way of saying thank you to all of our tournaments and volunteers for their contributions this past year."

The Pete Dye West Virginia Classic is operated by West Virginia Golf Charities and was contested for the first time in 2004. The inaugural tournament raised $100,000 for various children's charities around the state. The tournament will receive a check for $25,000 from the PGA TOUR in recognition of its selection as the Charity of the Year.

"On behalf of Pete and Alice Dye, the State of West Virginia, the National Mining Association and the sponsors and volunteers of the Pete Dye West Virginia Classic, we humbly accept this award from the PGA TOUR," said Jimmy LaRosa, president of West Virginia Golf Charities. "We are thrilled to be able to help children's charities throughout the state by operating this wonderful Nationwide Tour event."

The Nationwide Tour selects a Volunteer of the Week from each tournament and at season's end selects one person as the Volunteer of the Year. Purdy was chosen this year for his tireless efforts as Volunteer Chairman of the Canadian PGA Championship. In that capacity, Purdy was in charge of coordinating the efforts of 600 volunteers and 17 committees.

"I'm thrilled to win this award and accept on behalf of the great team we have at the Canadian PGA Championship," said Purdy. "You can't single out one person on our team, but I'm delighted to share this honor with our entire volunteer group."

Purdy will travel in February to watch the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am as a VIP guest of Nationwide Insurance and Financial Services where he will be able to watch several of the competitors from last year's CPGA Championship compete on the TOUR.

The 2005 Nationwide Tour season will begin the week of Jan. 24-30 with the BellSouth Panama Championship.