--- PRESS RELEASE ---
For immediate release: 12 August 2011
VODACOM ORIGINS OF GOLF 2011
Vodacom Origins of Golf continues to power its way to the top of the charity scoreboard
Since inception in 2004 The Vodacom Origins of Golf series continues to be synonymous with giving. Whether it's birdies on the course, evening competitions or fun celebrity golfing challenges, the tournament has always been about scoring for charity.
The Power2You Challenge forms part of the Vodacom Origins of Golf series on the Sunshine Tour and is extremely popular amongst celebrity invitees and the professional golfers, South Africa's leading business figures and arguably the best golfers in the country bought together by a common goal: to raise as much money as possible for the Birdies for Kiddies campaign, which falls under the Vodacom Foundation.
Testing both the power and accuracy of the sportsmen, the challenge has seen more than R450 000 raised for charity to date, courtesy of pro golfers and a host of soccer celebrities such as Mark Fish, Daine Klate and Katlego Mashego as well as cricketing greats Barry Richards, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher.
With the fourth leg taking place from 10 - 12 August at the Wild Coast Country Club, the challenge was set for five pro golfers on the par 5 third hole where every birdie would be rewarded with a R10 000 donation. Golfers Jean Hugo, Chris Swanepoel, Ryan Cairns, Chart van der Walt and Bradford Vaughn certainly didn't disappoint having each scored birdies on day one thereby raising R50 000 for the Birdies for Kiddies Campaign.
But the fundraising wasn't exclusive to the greens - with Zimbabwean pro golfer Ryan Cairns doing an impersonation of James Blunt that was such a hit that Vodacom agreed to contribute a further
R10 000. Cairns was then at it again, this time teaming up with Ard Matthews at the "Give that man a Bells" quiz. The pair sang a cappella version of Matthews' World Cup theme song and again impressed so much so that a further R30 000 was donated.
After the previous evening's festivities, day two proved slightly more challenging with only Jean Hugo and Ryan Cairns making a one under on the third, contributing an additional R20 000 to the kitty.
In addition to the money raised to date, Vodacom continued to donate R500 for every birdie scored on the course, raising a whopping R216 500.
The final day of the event brought with it 145 birdies, adding a further R72 500 to the total.
Prior to this August event R1 330 000 had been raised for charity and after just two days on the fairways, Vodacom had already exceed the R1.5 million mark.
All of this money is raised for the six selected charities - ACFS Feeding Scheme, Orlando Children's Home, NOAH, Ndlovu Medical Trust, New Beginningz and WMACA Kidz Clinics.
---PRESS RELEASE ENDS ---
REMAINING VODACOM ORIGINS OF GOLF EVENTS:
Date: Venue: Prize-money: Defending Champion:
31 Aug - 2nd September Sishen Golf Club (R540 000) Jean Hugo
21 - 23 September Legends Golf & Safari (R600 000) Justin Harding (D)
For Vodacom Origins of Golf related queries, please feel free to contact:
Thomas Abt: SAIL - 082 411 0840 - Thomas@Sail.co.za
Alternative Contact:
Caroline Malan: The PR Machine - 082 904 6848 - caroline@theprmachine.co.za
