Tiger Woods Block Party

by Mulligan Stu on Oct 8, 2007 4:55 PM EDT

Yes, there's such a thing as a "Tiger Woods Block Party." It's been held annually since 2004 in Anaheim as a fund-raiser for the Tiger Woods Learning Center located in that city.

Woods has donated $9 million of his own money to the operation of the facility, which cost $25 million to build and was the first to open in what Woods plans as a series of educational facilities.

The Orange County Register described the early part of the day:

On Saturday morning, Woods hosted a private golf event at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. In the evening, he wore jeans and a white and blue dress shirt for his third annual Block Party, held at the Grove of Anaheim.

Guests included Teri Hatcher of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," Isaiah Washington of NBC's "Bionic Woman," tennis pro Lindsay Davenport and Dave Annable of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters." Pop singer John Mayer was to deliver a performance after dessert and a live auction.

Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network prepared a four-course dinner, which included filet mignon, crab and ricotta manicotti, and fried polenta with marinara sauce. De Laurentiis, host of the program "Everyday Italian" and a contributor to NBC's "Today" show, is granddaughter of Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis.

Golf Digest's Local Knowledge blog filled in on the evening activities:

Another highlight of the event, which raises more than $1 million each year for the Tiger Woods Learning Center, was a live auction that generated $258,000. The big item was a Tiger Woods-signed flag from Augusta National and tickets for the first three rounds of next year's Masters. Fred Couples, who participated in an exhibition with Tiger earlier in the day, came to the stage and offered to take the winning bidder to play Augusta the Sunday before the tournament.

Couples said he'd pick up the winning bidder with his jet and let him stay with him. The only hitch: the winning bidder couldn't be a "chop." The winning bid was $145,000.

Earlier, Couples outlasted a few lively bidders to win a Grammy Awards package that included Gold Level tickets, backstage passes to the rehearsal, the chance to hang out with musician Jimmy Jam and to cut an album in his studio. Couples' winning bid was $38,000.

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