The 2nd Annual David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic was a benefit for the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, committed to helping children in New England and the Dominican Republic get access to critical pediatric services. The DOCF is proud to partner with Massachusetts General Hospital in New England and with Heart Care Dominicana and International Hospital for Children in the Dominican Republic.
At the event, David was joined by a host of celebrities and MLB players, including Red Sox teammates Clay Buchholz, Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Daniel Bard, and Tim Wakefield, Other MLB players Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Robinson Cano, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Placido Polanco; MLB Network commentator Sean Casey; Red Sox Manager Terry Francona, Houston Astros manager Brad Mills, Actors Jeffrey Donovan, Rachel Dratch, Sam Page, Pop Singer Joanna “JoJo” Levesque; and sports legends Bobby Orr, Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, John Havlicek and Alonzo Mourning.
The event was held at Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic. The golf tournament took place at the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course at Punta Espada.
The event kicked off on Thursday, December 3 with a welcome reception sponsored by Brugal, a Dominican Rum Company. The event was held at Cappricio restauraut at Sanctuary Cap Cana, where most of the guests stayed. The welcome reception was designed to introduce guests to the sights, sounds and tastes of the Dominican, including Caribbean tunes, specialty rum cocktails and Dominican hors d’oevures including black rice, orange scallops, lamp chops and much more.
In attendance at the welcome reception were Clay Buchholz and his new wife Lindsey, Daniel Bard and his fiancee Adair Sturdivant, Jon and Farrah Lester, Luis and Maria Tiant, Mike and Bertha Lowell, Rachel Dratch, Jo Jo Levesque, Red Sox manager Terry Francona, Houston Astros manager Brad Mills, Peter Sarmanian and Skip Sacks, owners of Big Papi’s Grille and of course, David and Tiffany Ortiz.
On Friday, the serious business of golf got underway, beginning with David Ortiz getting tips from Punta Espada golf pro Mark Clause. During the clinic, a few people dropped by including Tim Wakefield, Bobby Orr and Phil Morse, vice chairman of the Red Sox.
The festivities continued Friday night with the Pairings Party and Celebrity Auction, held at the Caleton Beach Club in Cap Cana, DR. At the event, guests bid on the opportunity to choose the celebrity golfer who would play with their foursome on Saturday. The first golfer chosen – for an $8,000 donation to the David Ortiz Children’s Fund – was Bobby Orr. Former Red Sox first baseman and current MLB network commentator Sean Casey served as emcee for the event. Sean Casey also scored the highest donation to the Foundation, a donation of $11,000 made by tournament sponsor JetBlue, who doubled their initial auction bid.
Saturday was a very warm day at the Punta Espada golf tournament, which runs along the Caribbean Sea. The views are absolutely stunning, with seven holes playing right alongside the water. The tournament kicked off with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. At the tournament, David Ortiz held a press conference at 1:00 p.m. which featured approximately 35 children from Heart Care Dominicana.
Saturday night was the awards gala, held at Sanctuary, Cap Cana. The event featured a cocktail reception, followed by a dinner, the awarding of prizes from the tournament and a live and silent auction. Once again, the emcee for the evening was Sean Casey. Last year, Sean and his foursome won the golf tournament. They were unable to defend the title this year. That honor went to the foursome led by Ubaldo Jimenz, pitcher for the Colorado Rockies. Second place went to the team led by Placido Polanco, 2nd baseman for the Detroit Tigers and 3rd place went to the team lead by Amesbury, Mass native Jeffrey Donovan who plays Michael Weston on the USA Network comedy Burn Notice.
Other award winners included Jim Rice, who won the longest drive contest on Hole 11, Jon Lester who won the “Most Stylish Drive” contest sponsored by Reebok, and Jacoby Ellsbury, who had the longest drive on Hole 2.
Alex Rodriguez, who did not play in the golf tournament, attended the awards event. The highlight of the evening was a surprise appearance by Domingo Diaz De La Rosa and his grandmother and 2 brothers. Domingo had a congenital heart defect and surgery to correct it on January 20. His medical costs were covered by Heart Care Dominicana, a beneficiary of the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. David was not aware they would be in attendance at the event and when they joined David on stage, it brought him to tears.
Sponsors for the event included Reebok, Sharp, vitaminwater and JetBlue. Final amounts raised by the tournament are still being calculated. The 2008 event netted $300K and the 2009 event is expected to net around the same amount.
All of the photos in the gallery are credited to John Gillooly.
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