USGA Senior Women's Amateur Lends Its Support To Patriot Golf Day

Sunriver, Ore. – Shiny blue wrapping covered boxes which sat, for most of the day, on the first and 10th tees of Sunriver Resort's Meadows Course Saturday, the first Patriot Golf Day.

They symbolized a joint undertaking by the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America. Patriot Golf Day is a dream of Dan Rooney, who is a golfer and a pilot who has already flown two tours of duty in Iraq.

PGA of America President Brian Whitcomb, who lives in nearby Bend, Ore., spoke at the Players’ Dinner on Thursday night and wholeheartedly expressed interest in making Patriot Golf Day an annual event. In fact, he suggested moving it to Memorial Day for more significance.

Today, each golfer at 3,000 participating facilities as well as the concurrent USGA Senior Amateur and USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, will be asked to donate a dollar to support the Fallen Heroes Foundation and Wounded Warriors, Inc., tax exempt non-profit programs awarding educational scholarships and counseling to families who have had a parent wounded or killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Rooney, a 34-year-old USGA and PGA member, got the idea as a way to remember our true heroes: those who have died in military service.

A native of Oklahoma, Rooney is a golf professional who struggled on the smaller tours and in 1997 tried unsuccessfully to attain his PGA Tour card through qualifying school. After that failed attempt, he and his father, John, bought Grand Haven (Mich.) Golf Club, a fixer-upper golf course along the shores of Lake Michigan.

He hopes to raise millions of dollars for the foundation, between individual and corporate donations.

"Patriot Golf Day is a call to action – a call to American citizens to help the children of our fallen heroes,” Rooney said. “Its success depends on the patriots who support it. I humbly ask for the assistance of the great men and women in the golf industry to help our families in this time of war. We have a wonderful opportunity to make a difference.”

Between the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and the USGA Senior Amateur, players and officials raised more than $1,200.

"If the small amount of help we bring to those who need it through Patriot Golf Day at the Senior Women’s Amateur is multiplied by the 3,000 participating golf courses, we have done a very good thing,” said USGA Senior Women’s Amateur committee chairperson Peggy Runnette.