At a check presentation and awards ceremony on Sunday, March 12th at the Classic Club, it was announced that the 7th Annual Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament raised $2,227,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® – surpassing a $2 million goal set by its Coachella Valley-based Board of Directors.
The Palm Desert event continues to be St. Jude’s top-grossing golf tournament fundraiser in the United States. The event welcomed more than 75 stars, songwriters and rock legends for a weekend of golf and one-of-a-kind music events.
“It costs $2 million a day to operate St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is at the forefront of how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases,” said Clarke Rheney, tournament co-founder and chairman. “So many generous people and hard-working volunteers came out this weekend to make all our events a huge success, and we are honored by the outpouring of support in the local community as well as by those who traveled here from throughout the country.”
Sell-out events included the Thursday night Songwriters Night featuring some of Nashville’s top songwriters telling the ‘stories behind the stories’ of country’s greatest hits; the Friday night Rheneypalooza Jam, which gathered rock-and-roll artists for a variety show of classics that rocked the JW Marriott Desert Springs for more than 4 hours; and the Saturday Soiree, where guests heard from a patient family and celebrated a night of giving for the kids of St. Jude.
“What we raised this weekend is about what it costs to open the doors and operate St. Jude for a day,” Rheney added. “Since this event’s inception, we’ve brought in over $7 million total to help the real stars of this tournament – the kids of St. Jude.”
The 2018 Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament will be held March 1-4, 2018. For more information, go to thewarburton.com.
