Dubai: Last month’s European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates raised more than $50,000 (Dh183,650) for charity thanks to the ‘Birdie Pledge’.
The European Tour Players’ Foundation pledged to donate $50 for every birdie made during the event and $100 for every eagle. One thousand birdies were made, of which event winner Rory McIlroy contributed 26, and the eagle count was 17 — including a hole-in-one from Italy’s Francesco Molinari, which took the total to $51,700.
“Once again we have raised not only a great amount of money but also heightened the awareness of cancer, particularly male cancers, and the work that this great organisation does,” said Kathryn Wightman-Beaven, director for Global Corporate Responsibility at DP World.
“This tournament is also a major platform for raising issues around male cancers and is part of our mission to contribute to social issues of importance. The work of Friends Of Cancer Patients (FoCP) is very important and they support many families and patients through their treatment for cancer.”
Nick Tarratt, director of The European Tour International — Dubai Office, said: “The DP World Tour Championship, the Tour Players Foundation and The European Tour were delighted to continue its commitment to Friends of Cancer Patients in UAE. Our corporate responsibility programmes around the tournament are an important aspect of the event and the Birdie Pledge is a great way to drive contributions to the community and [make] a difference to issues of social importance.”
Dr Sawsan Abdul Salam Al Madhi, director-general of FoCP, which had presence in the Championship Village via its Shanab initiative to raise awareness about male cancers, added: “I’d like to thank DP World, Jumeirah Golf Estates and The European Tour for hosting Shanab, a men’s health initiative that falls under [the] FoCP’s umbrella ‘Kashf’ — which means detection in Arabic — for early detection of cancer, addressing prostate cancer and testicular cancer, at the tournament.
“Friends of Cancer Patients has been working for the community for the past 16 years, raising awareness about different types of early detectable cancer, and supporting patients financially to help them get the required treatment and of course this is where the money from DP World activation will go.”
The Shanab awareness campaign at the event was based on an advert for golf fans to bring in their old golf balls and change them for new ones, provided by host venue Jumeirah Golf Estates, in packaging that explained issues around prostate and testicular cancer and how to check for it.
The Shanab medical team also conducted a survey during the four-day tournament, testing the visitors’ knowledge about testicular and prostate cancer before and after the awareness session.
The DP World Tour Championship has had a corporate responsibility programme through the Tour Players Foundation from the first tournament in 2009 when a contribution of $50,000 was made to SNFG.
Since then, contributions of $300,000 have been made by the DP World Tour Championship, taking the grand total to date after the 2015 tournament to around $350,000.
