Ten years after he retired as commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem and his wife Holly are donating $13 million to help launch a new charity strategy.
A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and the recipient of the PGA Tour’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Finchem served as the third commissioner of the PGA Tour from 1994 until his retirement in 2016.
He was instrumental in the founding of First Tee in 1997 – which empowers kids and teens through the game of golf – and was a tireless advocate and fundraiser for the program, recruiting former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W Bush to serve as First Tee Honorary Chairs.
Finchem was PGA Tour commissioner as the tour surpassed both the $1 billion and $2 billion milestones in charitable giving in 2005 and 2014 respectively.
“The charitable impact of the PGA Tour is real and a powerful model we are proud of,” said PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. “Our continued, shared responsibility is to make that impact even greater and easier for our players, partners and fans to rally around. We are deeply grateful for the incredible gift from Tim and Holly Finchem as we enter this next chapter.”
Holly Finchem said: “The PGA Tour family, its players, fans and communities have meant so much to us for so long, and we feel a connection to the golf world that endures to this day. This donation to PGA Tour Charities, as it is reimagined for future generations of impact, is more than a capstone on Tim’s unwavering commitment to charity. It is a celebration of our belief in this great game and the PGA Tour. We can’t wait to see all the good this gift will inspire.”
The PGA Tour revealed plans for PGA Tour Charities ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship, which has a $40 million purse that awards $10 million to the winner. Along with building its charity strategy around national campaigns with a more local impact, the PGA Tour is prepared to make up any difference, if needed, to maintain charity levels from tournaments that move down to the Challenger Series in the 2028 schedule.
“This next chapter is about generating even more focus, coordination, resources and visibility,” said Laura Neal, executive vice president of PGA Tour Strategic Philanthropy. “Launching an evolved PGA Tour Charities – with a legacy-defining, transformative gift from the Finchems – is an exciting next step in golf’s enduring commitment to giving back.”
PGA Tour Charities will launch and fund national priority campaigns around such themes as health, youth, access and service. The idea is to connect with tournaments on a broader scale when their missions align, which the tour hopes can attract new resources and raise visibility.
Lucas Glover, the Player Advisory Council chairman who joins the PGA Tour board next year, is leading a committee of players to help shape the initiatives. He said: “How I grew up on the tour what we hung our hat on as an organization was giving back. With COVID and then LIV coming in, it became more about money in our pocket instead of money in the pocket of people who need it more than we do. It never went away. It just got put on the back burner, and it’s time we put it back on the forefront of our minds. When we talk about the PGA Tour, it shouldn’t be how much we’re making, how much we’re playing for. It should be about what we’re doing in the communities where we play.”
Over the next 18 months, the PGA Tour will work with players, partners, events and fans to develop the reimagined platform, which will launch with the 2028 season and build on a legacy of philanthropy. The organization will provide an update on progress by The Players Championship 2027.