Golden Tee celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and to spread the joy around they are hosting the Players Charity Championship IV which will be held on June 6-8, 2014, IN Algonquin, Illinois. Since 2006, over $150,000 has been raised for charity, and this year 128 players are expected to compete and raise over $100,000 to support three local non-profit organizations.
The full-sized video game is played in tens of thousands of bars and pubs around the world and has a devoted and passionate player base. It's this love of the game that has fuelled the Players Charity Championships.
The Golden Tee player community founded Video Golfers 4 Underdogs (VG4U), a recognized 501c3 non-profit organization, in 2004 as its charitable arm. Leading up to the tournament, players will create personal crowd-funding web pages that friends, family, co-workers and others can visit to pledge donations. Jon Biedermann, VP of Video Golfers for UnderDogs, believes this event will be the most successful yet.
"We've learned a great deal from our past three charity events," Biedermann said. "This year we plan to use that knowledge and experience in a variety of ways. We'll have fundraising goals for each contestant, a silent auction, raffles, a real golf tournament, and several other ways for members of the Golden Tee community to participate. Every tournament attendee feels passionately about this cause and the game."
The Illinois organizations that will benefit from the tournament are The Nikolas Ritschel Foundation of Rockford; Salute, Inc. of Palatine; and Starlight Children's Foundation of Chicago. Kelli Ritschel-Boehle, Nikolas' mother and Executive Director of the foundation that bears his name, was very appreciative in her praise.
"One of Nik's last wishes was that we take one step to help adolescents in their cancer journey," she said. "With the generosity and power of collaboration that Video Golfers for Underdogs has provided, our one step just became a giant step towards fulfilling our mission!"
"During the past 25 years hundreds of thousands of Golden Tee players have won over $55 million competing in our online tournaments," remarked Elaine Hodgson, President of Incredible Technologies. "To see our players come together as part of the game's 25th anniversary celebration, and compete to raise money for such worthy organizations, is very gratifying. We knew our players had big hearts, but this is truly remarkable."
Besides the individual crowd-funding player pledge pages, non-attendees will be able to make donations through Golden Tee's Facebook and Twitter accounts as well. Power Events Group, based in St. Louis, Missouri, runs the event as part of the National Golden Tee Golf Tour. Founded in 2009, hundreds of video golfers across the nation compete on tour, sharing in over $100,000 in prizes every year.
For more information on the Golden Tee Players Charity Championship tournaments visit the official website at
http://pcc2.donorpages.com/pcc4.
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