Tour caddies pitch in for St. Jude’s
Group’s goal is to raise $50K for hospital
“It was a tear-jerking moment when a group of us took a tour of the hospital. It was a life-changing moment.” Scott Sajtinac, who caddies for Troy Merritt, on time spent at St. Jude’s Hospital
With each step during a tour of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital a few years ago, PGA Tour caddie Scott Sajtinac’s heart broke just a little more.
From one room to another, down one hallway after another, Sajtinac and a few of his fellow caddie mates met children battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases in the Memphis facility.
“If you go into that hospital and don’t walk out a changed person or feel like it needs to be a priority in everybody’s lives, then I don’t think you really have a soul, as harsh as that may sound,” said Sajtinac, who caddies for Troy Merritt. “It was a tear-jerking moment when a group of us took a tour of the hospital.
“It was a life-changing moment.”
The visit certainly changed Sajtinac. He and many of the traveling gypsies who carry a golf bag for a living decided to take action. They agreed to start raising money for St. Jude, which is the primary beneficiary of this week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic, where Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott headline the action at TPC Southwind.
With the cooperation of the St. Jude workforce dedicated to raising money, a fundraising platform for each caddie who belongs to the Association of Professional Tour Caddies was established. Besides giving their players comfort, counsel and yardage on the PGA Tour, the caddies started to give out a Web link for St. Jude’s fundraising to all of their contacts through phone calls, texts, emails and posts on Facebook and Twitter.
In their first year of raising money, the caddies donated $41,000 last year. They’ve already raised thousands more this year. The caddies partnered with AT&T for the first AT&T Tour Caddie Championship at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas on May 22. While Mark Urbanek, who totes for James Hahn, shot 5-under-par 67 to topple the field of nearly 80 caddies, St. Jude was the biggest victor and received a $25,000 check.
Wednesday about two dozen caddies will participate in a corn hole tournament near the driving range at TPC Southwind. Many of the caddies will tour the hospital, taking golf balls, gloves, caps and other souvenirs to hand out. And the fundraising link will remain active. The goal is to raise $50,000 this year.
“We are extremely grateful to the members of the Association of Professional Tour Caddies for selecting St. Jude as their charity of choice,” said Richard Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “So far, APTC’s efforts have raised nearly $70,000, helping to ensure that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel housing or food because all they should worry about is helping their child live.”
Caddie James Edmondson, whose friend and boss is Ryan Palmer, became aware of St. Jude seven years ago when the son of a friend was diagnosed with cancer. Edmondson and Palmer went to see the young boy and his family at St. Jude and saw the remarkable work being done.
The boy, Tyler Bates, has been cancer free for years.
“That experience touched me,” Edmondson said. “There are so many charitable organizations out there that do such great and important work. But being a father of two little ones, being around kids ... these kids don’t deserve this. Seeing what they do there in Memphis really hit me.
“The passion for that hospital — people didn’t ask twice when we asked for donations. They just opened up their wallets.”
Kenny Harms, who caddies for Kevin Na, said it was a no-brainer to give to St. Jude.
“Those kids got the raw end of the deal,” he said. “It breaks everybody’s heart to see any kid sick. Our goal is to raise as much money as possible.”