Star-Studded Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament

Bringing 75 Celebrities, One-of-a-Kind Music Events and BMW Race to the Desert March 9-12
 7th Annual Fundraising Weekend Raises Funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®

The seventh annual Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament will return to the desert from March 9-12, 2017, bringing in more than 75 stars, songwriters and rock legends for a weekend of golf and one-of-a-kind music events – along with a race day at the BMW Performance Center.

The event has grown to become “St. Jude Week in the Desert,” all to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, which is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The tournament and most of its events will be held at JW Marriott Desert Springs and Classic Club in Palm Desert.

Tournament host, actor Patrick Warburton, perhaps best known for playing Puddy on Seinfeld as well as the star of the syndicated sitcom Rules of Engagement, the voice of Joe on Family Guy and numerous movie roles in movies like Ted and Ted 2, The Tick, Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove and Planes: Fire & Rescue, and DreamWorks’ Mr. Peabody & Sherman, brings together many of his celebrity friends to highlight a star-studded weekend in the desert raising much-needed funds for kids battling pediatric cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Warburton can now be seen on Netflix’s top-rated Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – where he plays narrator Snicket and co-stars with Neil Patrick Harris.

Children from all 50 states, including California, and around the world receive care at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude also freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, so doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.

Celebrities will begin arriving on Thursday, March 9, for Songwriters’ Night – which will be held at the JW Marriott Desert Springs at 7 p.m. This will be an evening with a group of renowned Nashville songwriters telling the stories behind their biggest hits, along with performing those hits. New songwriters this year include Deric Ruttan, who wrote Blake Shelton’s #1 hit “Mine Would Be You;” the Dierks Bentley hit “What Was I Thinkin” and songs recorded by dozens of artists including Jason Aldean and Eric Church.  Also new this year is David Lee Murphy, who’s penned a number of Kenny Chesney hits such as “Living in Fast Forward” and “Pirate Flag” as well as a his own hits, including “Dust on the Bottle” and “Loco.”  Other songwriters scheduled to appear include Tim Nichols, who wrote Tim McGraw’s iconic #1 hit, “Live Like You Were Dying” and Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Tails California;” and Kelley Lovelace, writer of the smash hit “All-American Girl” performed by Carrie Underwood as well as huge Brad Paisley hits like “Ticks,” “I’m Still a Guy” and “Camouflage.” The event will be hosted by HLN morning news anchor, Robin Meade. Tickets are $100.

On Friday, The Rush will be a race event limited to 100 people. The BMW Performance Driving Center West in Thermal will host a day filled with a celebrity race and driving experiences for participants beginning at 10:30 a.m. and wrapping up at 4:00 p.m. Drivers will have the opportunity to do timed autocross, drag racing and performance driving while receiving tips an instruction from a BMW professional driver. Cost is $475 per driver and includes lunch.

Friday night’s Rheneypalooza Jam has generated a lot of buzz as “the best event in the desert” because of its unique line-up of Rock-and-Roll Hall of Famers and other famous rock recording artists who perform some of their hits in what becomes essentially a 4+ hour rock-and-roll variety show. Scheduled to perform this year are Huey Lewis, Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon), Steve Augeri (former lead singer of Journey), Skunk Baxter (Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers), Mickey Thomas (Starship), Alice Cooper, Don Felder (The Eagles), Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Danny Seraphine (Chicago), Micky Dolenz (The Monkees), Tommy Thayer (KISS) and Robin Meade (Headline News anchor, “Morning Express with Robin Meade”). Celebrity Jam Session tickets can be purchased for $150 prior to March 1st – after which they will go up to $200.

“This tournament is so extraordinary because of the way it incorporates musicians – we keep hearing consistently there is no other event like this in the desert,” said Clarke Rheney, tournament chairman and St. Jude’s 2017 National Volunteer of the Year. “We have rock and roll legends and hall-of-famers who come out to this event to share their music and do their part to raise money and awareness for the kids of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”

Other commitments for celebrities who are scheduled to appear at the golf tournament include actors Richard Kind, John O’Hurley, Richard Karn, Sam McMurray, Peter Gallagher, Bruce McGill, David Leisure, Gregory Harrison, Galen Gering, Ben Reed, Bill Smitrovich, Bruce Thomas, Kurt Fuller, Pauley Trickey, Raymond Cruz, Matt McCoy, Rob Morrow, Mark Moses and Brian Thompson; and athletes like former NFL pros, Sterling Sharpe, Jim McMahon and Andre Wadsworth; Major League baseball players, Steve Garvey, Scott Erickson and Kurt Bevacqua; NHL Hall of Famer, Grant Fuhr; and volleyball gold medalist, Dain Blanton. Other celebrities include national news personality, Bret Baier and MTV/VH-1 founder, Les Garland. Golf tournament entries are sold out.

The Saturday Soiree will feature red carpet appearances that evening by many of the celebrities involved with the tournament, as well as a dinner and dancing to music by the band, Sixwire & Friends, the featured band on the television show, Nashville. Tickets for the Saturday Soiree are $300.

Event sponsors include Castelli’s Ristorante, Classic Club, Enterprise Holdings, the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation; Michael Shubert & Associates, News Channel 3/CBS Local 2, Prime Source Entertainment Group, Shakti Warriors, Sixwire and Tito’s Handmade Vodka.

It will cost nearly $1 billion this year to run St. Jude, and 75 percent of the funding comes from the public. Thanks to events like the Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

The Warburton is the top highest grossing golf tournament for St. Jude nationwide, and surpassed its goal of raising $1 million for St. Jude at last year’s event.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit thewarburton.com