RICHMOND, Va. (May 2008) – It's not your every day charity golf tournament when the prize is a trip to play Pebble Beach in Monterey County, Calif. That's what was awarded to a local twosome who participated in the third annual Lexus of Richmond Champions for Charity to benefit the Bon Secours Cancer Institute. The tournament was held at the Foundry Golf Club in Powhatan, Va.
Carl McNeill of Free Agents Marketing and Richard Slater of Virginia Physicians for Women partnered for the tournament and won. Now they are scheduled to play at the national Lexus Champions for Charity at Pebble Beach in December.
"I love the game, but certainly never expected to win," said McNeill, a golf enthusiast and general manager of Free Agents Marketing, a Richmond–based advertising firm. "I was already hitting the showers when they pulled me back for a tie–breaker on the 18th hole."
The win came when McNeill hit a third shot out of the sand, a foot from the cup for par and a victory.
The funds raised at the Richmond golf tournament went toward the enhancement of programs at Bon Secours' Cancer Institute. They also will provide scholarships for restorative yoga classes for patients undergoing radiation or chemotherapy treatments at the Cancer Institute.
If McNeill and Slater win at Pebble Beach, it could mean $17,500 for the Bon Secours Cancer Institute.
The local tournament is sponsored by Lexus of Richmond. The Bon Secours Cancer Institute, a comprehensive cancer program of the Bon Secours Richmond Health System, is in its second year of operation at St. Francis Medical Center.