For just $20, Inland Northwest golf fans will have a rare chance to see professionals from the PGA Tour in action on Aug. 18. The pros will be paired with well-known sports figures — some local heroes as well as ESPN personalities — for a nine-hole exhibition at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. It's all part of an effort to raise money for the Community Cancer Fund and the V Foundation.
Course grounds will open to the public at 9 am with on-site shops, food and beverages, as well as a Fan Zone including a beer garden and interactive Nike Golf demo center. Clinics and activities with professional golfers also will take place before the Showcase tees off.
Former Gonzaga and now Los Angeles Lakers center Robert Sacre and Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien, as well as Zags men's basketball coach Mark Few, new Oregon State men's basketball coach Wayne Tinkle and ESPN's Neil Everett (a graduate of Lewis and Clark High School), Sean McDonough and Fran Fraschilla will pair up with golf pros, including Ferris grad and now PGA tour player Alex Prugh, for the exhibition.
Event sponsors will join the celebrities for golf and a dinner/auction on Sunday, Aug. 17.
"It felt like a good time to put our best foot forward to make a local impact and support the local fight against cancer, the patients and their families," founder Jerid Keefer says of the newly formed Community Cancer Fund. The fund will help provide local cancer prevention and screening programs, as well as support cancer patients and their families at every stage of their illness and recovery. The V Foundation has awarded more than $115 million to cancer research projects. ♦
