Toshiba Senior Classic sets Senior PGA Tour charitable record
Richard Dunn
NEWPORT BEACH -- Despite the cancellation of the final round on Sunday of
the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, Hoag Hospital,
the operating charity of the event, came out a huge winner.
Charitable proceeds from this year’s Senior PGA Tour event eclipsed the
$1-million mark, tournament officials announced, as the sixth annual
event shattered the tour record for the largest donation in a single
year.
“Even this weather could not put a damper on the charitable mission of
the Toshiba Senior Classic,” said tournament co-chairman Jake Rohrer, a
longtime Hoag volunteer.
The Toshiba Classic, which became the first tournament in the 21-year
history of the Senior PGA Tour to surpass $1 million in charitable
contributions, topped the previous senior tour record of $938,000 set
last year by the Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic, played at Bunker Hills
Golf Club in Coon Rapids, Minn., outside Minneapolis.
“If we had good weather, I think we really would’ve set the bar high for
the future,” added Rohrer, who was largely responsible for operating the
hospital’s mini-tour event, the Newport Classic Pro-Am, for several
years, before the Senior PGA Tour invited Hoag to take over the
then-struggling Toshiba event in May 1997.
“We are ecstatic to announce that we have made a million dollars for
charity,” Toshiba co-chairman Hank Adler said.
The funds will go toward supporting the hospital’s special centers,
including Orthopedic Services, Women’s Services, the Hoag Heart Institute
and the Hoag Cancer Center.
After postcard-type weather, most of the week, for the pro-ams and a
first-round tournament-record crowd on Friday (an estimated 15,000) --
mainly because of the Newport Beach debut of Arnold Palmer -- the event
had a less-than-ideal turnout on Saturday because of rain and Sunday’s
final round was canceled because of heavy rain in the morning and gusts
up to 39 knots.
But the event turned a large profit because of corporate sponsorships and
pro-ams rounds.
“Our sponsors have supported us for three years in a manner that is
unparalleled on tour,” tournament director Jeff Purser said on Sunday.
“We will recognize this support with some type of gesture, not yet
determined, to show our appreciation of their continued support.”
In three years, since Hoag Hospital has been the Toshiba Classic’s
operating charity, the event has raised more than $2.5 million.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.