Throughout the year, Shaw golf stars Graham DeLaet and Adam Hadwin will check in and present insights from the PGA Tour.
Last July in Saskatoon we held our first big charity tournament in support of my foundation. The beneficiary of the event was the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan, and they brought a group of kids in to the dinner, just as we were getting ready to do the auction. All of the kids were wearing bright yellow shirts, and every one of them had a medical issue or struggle.
When you meet those children, when you hug them and get to talk to them, that’s when the possibility of my charitable foundation really hit home. It goes from being a concept to reality, and it really hit home with both me, and Ruby, my wife. It made us want to do more.
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I started thinking about the idea of giving back during my second year on tour. It became a goal for me. As my career progressed it became something I wanted to follow through on.
When we initially thought about giving to charity, we talked a lot about what our goals and objectives would be. Where did we think we could make a difference?
There’s a history of cancer in both of our families and we thought about that. But when it comes down to it, we thought it should be about kids. The money we raise will go to children’s health in different ways. We’ve raised money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan. That was a no brainer and fit so well for us.
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The other thing that was a focus for us was growing the game of golf and getting clubs in kids hands. That’s really how you develop the next generation of players. It is not about taking good players at 16 and making them better—it is about getting clubs in kids’ hands early on, so you have more players who have a chance at being good later on.
It isn’t just about creating professional golfers, but demonstrating to kids all the good things that come out of the game of golf. It is about etiquette, and honor and sportsmanship—all the great elements that are developed by golf.
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Truthfully it is a great role for her. There’s not a person in my entire life who is more caring for other people than Ruby, which is probably why the relationship with us works.
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