Heath Slocum Donates $40,000 to Local Atlanta Charities

Just got this from the tournament office in a statement from the PGA Tour:

Heath Slocum, winner of The Barclays last month and No. 5 in the FedExCup standings heading into the Playoff Finale, today announced a $40,000 donation to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola’s TICKETS Fore CHARITY™ program.  Slocum lives in nearby Alpharetta, Ga., and THE TOUR Championship this week is a homecoming of sorts for a player who went from No. 124 to No. 5 in the FedExCup standings in a matter of weeks and has a legitimate shot of becoming the 2009 FedExCup Champion.   THE TOUR Championship will be held September 23-27, 2009, at East Lake Golf Club as the finale to the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.  

Slocum’s donation is earmarked for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Chron’s and Colitis Foundation, who will each receive $10,000 and THE TOUR Championship TICKETS Fore CHARITY™ tickets.  The East Lake Foundation receives $20,000.  

“I am excited to be playing here at home in Atlanta in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola” said Slocum.  “My wife Victoria and daughter Stella are very happy to be in the position to donate back to some causes that are near to our heart and community. I have suffered from Ulcerative Colitis since the late 1990s and since moving here have been working with the Georgia Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation to help educate and find a cure for this debilitating disease. We also know how involved Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been in our community and the game of golf, and since our daughter was born it has become very important to take care of other children and families in need. It is also with great pride that we are able to give back to the community in which this great course is located and help those less fortunate with a donation to the East Lake Foundation. We are so lucky, and we hope that our gifts make a difference and we are able to do this for many years to come.”

“Heath’s generous donation is a prime example of the PGA TOUR’s charitable mission at work,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem.  “Here we have a player who found incredible success this year on TOUR and is using that success as a platform to positively impact the community in which he lives, which also happens to be a community in which we play.  On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I want to commend and thank Heath and his wife Victoria for their kindness and generosity.”

This isn't a one time thing for Heath.  He and his wife donate a lot of money to charities and spend time helping whenever they can.

The Tickets Fore Charities program is an effort by The Tour Championship to make sure that the level of giving doesn't drop because of the economy.  The charities involved with the tournament received blocks of tickets to sell and all the money they receive in those sales stays with that charity.

The Chrons and Colitis Foundation is particularly special to Slocum since he was diagnosed with Chron's Disease after he graduated college.