First Tee S.F. gets a big boost from Schwab
Twenty-one years ago, in 1997, then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem traveled to New York, Detroit and Houston to unveil The First Tee, a national program designed to introduce kids to golf and teach them life skills through the game.
Finchem wasn’t planning to stop in San Francisco until Charles Schwab called.
Schwab likes golf and was close friends with Sandy Tatum, the former USGA president and local lawyer who was consumed at the time with renovating Harding Park. Schwab and Tatum wanted to make a First Tee chapter part of Harding’s rebirth, so they and other Bay Area business leaders met with Finchem.
“Their vision was to try to do what has now been done with Harding Park,” Finchem said last week in a phone interview. “And as they did it, to sort of create an epicenter for The First Tee in Northern California …
“There were points when I didn’t think we could pull it off, but Sandy just wouldn’t let it go. Chuck was very much part of that. And we’ve had a very successful run in what I think is a unique setting.”
Golf often benefits from friends in high places, with vast financial resources. Schwab counts as Exhibit A, from his sponsorship of the PGA Tour Champions playoffs to his financing of the clubhouse at Harding, named after Tatum.
Schwab recently struck again — he and his wife, Helen, quietly pledged $5 million to The First Tee of San Francisco. The gift, in honor of Tatum (who died last year at 96), will refurbish the program’s facilities, establish a $2 million scholarship fund and cover the cost of a bronze, life-size sculpture of Tatum.
About 12,000 kids participate in the program, which has an annual operating budget of approximately $1 million. So, yes, this is a big deal.
“Chuck and Helen had a very dear relationship with Sandy, and they understand the value of teaching kids life skills through golf,” executive director Dan Burke said. “This is a game-changing gift. It’s going to push us to the highest level as we try to impact kids in this community.”
The First Tee will tear down its facilities in advance of the PGA Championship at Harding Park in May 2020. That will give the PGA space to build temporary structures, including a media center, for the first major championship held at Harding.
Then, after the PGA, work will begin on the $2.5 million Sandy Tatum Learning Center — including a modern synthetic practice facility, driving range and small classroom building with a STEM learning area.
Burke hopes the center will open in January 2021.
Tatum gained much attention (and some criticism, given cost overruns) for turning Harding into a tour-worthy venue. The course hosted a World Golf Championship event in 2005, the Presidents Cup in ’09 and the Match Play Championship in 2015.
Tatum took similar pride in the First Tee chapter at Harding. He routinely marveled at its impact on underserved San Francisco kids, and the Schwab gift can only help.
“Strategically, this really is going to reset the bar as far as reaching more kids and what The First Tee can do,” said Finchem, who remains chairman of the program’s national advisory board.
The donation’s timing is unintentionally awkward, considering the closure of The
First Tee’s East Bay chapter in February (Schwab proposed the San Francisco gift late last year). That program stretched itself too far, struggled to attract donors and reluctantly shut down.
There’s hope of eventually reopening the Oakland program, but that’s not imminent.
“We want to be in Oakland,” Finchem said. “Getting back there with a vibrant First Tee program is high on the agenda.”
Caddie scholarships: Who knew a caddie could land a full ride to college?
Two students from Lowell in San Francisco earned the Evans Scholarship, a full housing and tuition grant for caddies sponsored by the Western Golf Association (based outside Chicago). Jacqueline Yip and Hannah Heller both plan to attend Washington this fall.
Yip and Heller spend summers working as caddies at the Olympic Club. They are two of an estimated 275 student caddies nationwide to be awarded the Evans Scholarship.
Briefly: Stanford is one of 30 teams that will begin play in the NCAA men’s championships Friday in Stillwater, Okla. … Cardinal alum Joseph Bramlett tied for fourth after a finalround 62 on Sunday at the Web.com Tour event in South Carolina. That vaulted Bramlett to No. 24 on the money list; the top 25 at season’s end earn a promotion to the PGA Tour.