And the real winner is Winnipeg Children's Hospital Foundation
Today, the winner of the CN Canadian Women's Open will get a giant-sized cheque for $337,000.
Pfft. Pocket change.
Because regardless of who prevails after the final putt drops at St. Charles -- be it Michelle Wie or Paula Creamer or Jiyai Shin -- the real winner will be the Winnipeg Children's Hospital Foundation, which stands to earn upwards of $1 million from the Open.
2010 FinalsJust thought you'd like to know. After all, for all the star power orbiting around St. Charles this week, the legacy of the Open, sometimes lost in the glitz of a major international event, isn't going away.
And that would be hundreds of thousands of dollars in fundraising and those hundreds of volunteers, respectively, that make the event worthwhile.
Yeah, I know. A token pat on the back for the volunteers again. But it's true.
And if we're always going to get ragged in this town for mosquito infestations, let the record show that the only thing Winnipeg produces more of than blood-sucking insects, is people who grease the infrastructure for every major sports spectacle this town has ever hosted.
Organizers at St. Charles were looking for 1,400 volunteers. Their quota was filled in March.
There's transportation committees, player services, a posse of 450 marshals. Heck, there's even a volunteer committee in charge of volunteer services.
"When you have an organization of 1,400 people you expect some things to go wrong. But nothing has," noted Ken Matchett, host club volunteer chair. "They're just running like a well-oiled machine. There's nothing to give us a headache now. We're right on track.
"People are out here earlier than they need to be," Matchett added. Womens Air Shox R4 "They're pumped. And they want to work longer than they have to. It's amazing."
And all those worker bees make the Open's world go around, from chauffeuring players to and fro to green-side score reporters to hosting at corporate suites.
"It's usually the people who make the difference," Matchett said. "They feel like they're part of the success of the event, and they should. So the enthusiasm has been building to say the least. By the time you get to Thursday, they were higher than kites."
The other unsung hero of the Open has been the fundraising efforts for the Children's Hospital, where every dollar raised -- from players' donations to wrist bands to silent auctions to Dr. Goodbear sales -- is Nike air jordan dunks matched by CN ()
The Open charity raised $1.7 million last year in Calgary. Organizers in Winnipeg have set a target of $1 million.
"As a golfer, I wanted to see the best women players, but that fact that CN now requires a charity attached to the event was even more important to me," offered Cathy Macatavish, the tournament chair for Golf Canada. "The volunteers feel even better about volunteering."
So, yes, a rich golfer will get even richer today. Then they'll be off to their next event.
The mountain of volunteers and money raised will remain.
"The big winner is the Children's Hospital Foundation by far," concluded Golf C
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