Giving Back names Davis Love III the world's most generous golfer in 2010

Thanks to a $424,379 donation to his Davis Love III Foundation, the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup captain was the world’s most generous golfer in 2010, according to an organization dedicated to helping athletes, entertainers, and other celebrities make the best use of their charitable donations.

Love, a 20-time PGA Tour winner, finished 29th in The Giving Back Fund’s "Giving Back 30" list that included actors, musicians, and six other athletes. The Detroit Lions’ Ndamukong Suh, known for his uncharitable habit of stomping on the body parts of opposing NFL players, gave out $2.6 million to his alma mater, the University of Nebraska, and topped the roster of sports stars at No. 6.

Davis Love (r.) and Tiger Woods are two of only three golfers ever to make The Giving Back Fund's annual list of the 30 most generous celebrities (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

The fund, founded in 1997 to "leverage celebrity for a wide range of charitable causes and important social issues," has compiled its Giving Back 30 list for five years. The organization ranks celebrities who have donated the most to charities according to public records, foundations’ tax forms, media reports, the charities themselves, private foundation records from GuideStar, and representatives of the rich and famous.

Giving Back does not include grants made by the foundations or payments that celebrities may redirect for their performances. That could be why Tiger Woods, for one, was absent from last year’s list. The world’s 25th-ranked player said on his website that he donates winnings from the Chevron World Challenge to his foundation, and his second-place finish in 2010 would have netted the Tiger Woods Foundation $650,000.

Despite professional golf’s well-deserved reputation for charitable giving, Woods -- who made the cut in 2006 and 2007 -- Arnold Palmer (2006), and Love are the only golfers on any of the fund’s annual rosters. Love’s 2010 donation helped his foundation distribute grants to the St. Presbyterian Church, Frederica Academy, Special Olympics, and the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Georgia, according to Giving Back.