Scholarship drives
Florida Atlantic holds its annual golf tournament to raise money for athletic scholarships Thursday at Trump International Golf Club.
Originally published on
5/22/2009
by
Marcus Nelson
> Video: FAU golf tournament
> Photo Gallery: Snapshots from Thursday's events.
WEST PALM BEACH - To pull off its most successful golf tournament to raise money for the athletic department, Florida Atlantic needed more than just planning and hard work by its staff.
Tournament organizers also needed the rain that has been around for most of the week to hold off for a few hours on Thursday – and it got just what needed as the wet stuff stayed away just enough to play the entire tournament on Thursday at Trump International Golf Club.
“It was divine intervention,” said FAU Associate Athletic Director for External Relations Terry Mohajir,
This year’s tournament attracted more than 170 to play at Trump International Golf Club – an increase over last year.
“That’s the most we’ve ever had by far,” Mohajir said.
The tournament and the accompanying silent auction raised around $100,000 for scholarships and is the largest fund-raising event for the athletic department each year.
With the downturn of the economy, the tournament lost some of its largest sponsors, but likely will be able to come close to last year’s total of around $102,000 raised because Owl staffers signed up more players than last year.
“Fund raising is at a premium and sheer philanthropy is kind of flat these days,” FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos said. “Corporate sponsorship is kind of flat because of the way the economy is, so if we can give something of value in return for the money we've raised, it works out very well. To be able to come up to Trump International and have this and for them to make it available for us it's a win-win situation for everybody.
"If you have the right product, people will come out for it, and we saw that tonight.”