The Seve Ballesteros Foundation (SBF) will benefit to the tune of £725,905 following a series of fund-raising activities during the week of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club last month.
All proceeds are being donated to the SBF in partnership with Cancer Research UK to help fund research into brain cancer, which ultimately cost the five-time Major Champion his life on May 7 after a two and a half year battle against the disease.
The intensive fundraising programme at Wentworth Club has doubled the amount raised since Ballesteros launched his partnership with Cancer Research UK last year.
Olé Seve! in aid of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation – an invitational pro-am over the West Course on May 23 – proved to be an enormous financial success with £625,168 raised from the sale of pro-am teams, a high-quality auction, various pledges, donations and gate receipts. The auction of nine unique lots was responsible for raising £345,000 alone.
The invitational event and the appointment of the SBF as the Official Charity of this year’s BMW PGA Championship, had been in the planning for many months before his death, as a means of both honouring and celebrating Seve’s illustrious career; which saw the golfing and business communities rallying to support the Foundation.
The fundraising activity for Seve’s foundation continued into the week of the European Tour’s flagship event, the most successful of which was an initiative that saw the public make voluntary donations for the Official Programme and Draw Sheet of the Championship. The spectators generously donated £35,770 which was fund-matched by The European Tour’s charitable arm, the Tour Players Foundation. A further £29,197 came from a variety donations and activities across the week, lifting the grand total raised to a fantastic £725,905.
Ivan Ballesteros, Seve’s nephew and spokesman for the Ballesteros family, said: “I would like to thank everyone who helped raise so much money and supported the Seve Ballesteros Foundation during the week. Wentworth was a very special place to Seve and he would have been very proud to see the support that his charity received from the Tour, Wentworth and the public.”
Harpal Kumar, CEO of Cancer Research UK, commented: “Thanks to the generosity of everyone who was involved with Olé Seve!, and support from the public, a fantastic amount of money has been raised for the Seve Ballesteros Foundation in aid of Cancer Research UK. The money raised through this partnership will help us fund world class research into the diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the brain, which affect around 8,500 people in the UK each year.”
Seve Ballesteros Foundation www.fundacionseveballesteros.com
Cancer Research UK www.cancerresearchuk.org
European Tour www.europeantour.com