Poker and Golf for Charity

Quite a number of poker-golf charity events have been cropping up in the wake of Tiger Jam 2013, the TIGER WOODS FOUNDATION charity tournament that was successfully held earlier this year in Las Vegas. Raising more than USD $800,000 in order to raise college-access funds for Woods’ target beneficiaries, the event proved how the two seemingly unrelated sports areas could be used as an effective tool in support of charitable initiatives.

Tiger Jam 2013 was able to capitalize on the heavy media attention that surrounds such high-profile celebrity events. The presence of Tiger Woods’ celebrity friends from the sports, business, music, and entertainment fields contributed heavily to the success of the event as the combined attendance of personalities like KID ROCK, Mheki Phifer, Mark Cuban, and L.A. Clippers star, Chris Paul, proved to great effect. World Series of Poker (WSOP) celebrities such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and the legendary Doyle Brunson were also present, as was poker Hall-of-Famer and BETFAIR POKER events veteran, Phil Hellmuth.

The concept itself of poker-golf tournaments aren’t exactly new as such events have been around for quite some time. High-profile events like Tiger Jam 2013 attract a lot of media attention, but there are plenty of similar tournaments held at the local community level in some countries, and the popularity of the two sports are making such tournament “mash-ups” more and more popular each day. Though such tournaments may be more modest in scope, they are definitely deserving of the same respect and admiration as their more media attention-grabbing counterparts. Whatever the size or scope of the event, the more important focus still remains on providing much-needed support for local and even national charities and foundations.

The popularity of poker-golf tournaments have been such that a peculiar tournament called the WORLD SERIES OF GOLF even got established as far back as 2007. It was originally intended to become an annual event, but there haven’t been any initiatives as of late to continue the franchise. Still, the format combined both the rules of poker and golf to come up with an interesting style of gameplay that played to the interests of both golf and poker enthusiasts alike. Like its poker-golf cousins, the World Series of Golf was also initiated to lend support to charitable organizations and foundations.

It remains to be seen whether or not these kinds of tournaments will continue to enjoy the level of support they do at the moment. Though long-term prospects may be anyone’s guess right now, the continuing popularity of poker combined with the enduring legacy of golf should be more than enough to ensure the holding of even more poker-golf charity tournaments in the near future.