Mountain Mission School golf benefit nets record-breaking $15 million

BRISTOL, Va. – Mission accomplished.

After an afternoon Tuesday of big shots and big fun at The Olde Farm golf course, the Big Three of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player helped unveil what the day was really all about.

The big check.

“The Big 3 for Mountain Mission Kids” golf tournament, headlined by the golfing legends, broke its original goal of $12 million, its latest goal of $15 million and the all-time record by a PGA-sponsored event when Olde Farm founder Jim McGlothlin presented the Grundy, Va., Mountain Mission School with a $15.1 million check on the final green.

“When Jim said to me, a long time ago when he first decided to do this, he said, ‘I think I can raise 12 million,’ I thought he was smoking,” Player said. “It’s unbelievable.”

The exact final total on the ceremonial check – $15,149,183.98 – obliterated the old PGA-sponsored charity event record by nearly $7 million, topping the $8.66 million raised at an FBR Open in Phoenix.

“Golf raises more money for charity than all the three other major sports combined,” Nicklaus said. “We’re very proud of that, and to be here today to set an all-time record is very, very special.”

The money generated by the tournament – raised through everything from hole sponsorships and auctions to ticket and merchandise sales – all will go toward the endowment of the 89-year-old Mountain Mission School, a residential and education center for nearly 300 needy pre-K-12 students that relies entirely on private donations to operate.

“There’s nothing more important to our country than our children,” McGlothlin said.

The 19 teams that paid $100,000 each to play a hole against the Big Three and the more than 1,000 spectators who shelled out $1,000 per ticket to watch the tournament didn’t go home disappointed in their donations.

Nicklaus, Palmer and Player put on a show for the crowd, posing for countless photographs, signing hundreds of autographs and showing off the golf skills that have wowed fans for decades.

In the scramble format of the tournament (each member of the three-man teams took their first shot and then all players on the team hit their second shot from the best overall first shot and so on), the Big Three didn’t allow any group of amateurs to best them until Ned Launtenbach knocked home a putt on the ninth green to give his team a three to the pros’ four on the par-four “Plateau” to end the front nine.

“It was lucky,” Launtenbach said.

Wayne Huizenga, the former owner of three professional sports teams, tied up the match when he sank a birdie putt for the amateurs a hole later, but the Big Three pulled away with five straight birdies and finished with a three-stroke win.

On the 19-hole, par-74 course off Old Jonesboro Road, Nicklaus, Palmer and Player shot 64 to the amateurs combined 67.

While joking around throughout the day, the professional legends’ competitive streak was still obvious even as their stroke number was overshadowed by the larger charitable effort.

“I think we wanted to win all 19,” Nicklaus said. “I don’t think there’s any question about it, but if we had lost all 19, that would have been OK, too.”

Most of the day’s humor centered on the golfers’ climbing ages, with the brunt of the jokes directed at the 80-year-old Palmer – including those by Palmer himself.

“Oh my, I’m getting too strong,” Palmer sighed after he hit a chip over the 16th green.

Palmer, though, provided plenty of highlights worthy of his younger days, bringing the day’s loudest cheers when he nearly holed a putt from off the green on No. 11 and then smacked a perfect shot to set his team up for a birdie on the par-three 12th.

“You’ve driven the ball straight for 50 years,” Nicklaus told Palmer after he blasted another drive up the fairway on hole 14.

Nicklaus, 70, and Player, 74, also turned in their fair share of highlight-reel shots as they played together in a scramble for the first time.

“We have never ever played a scramble together,” Player said.

And despite a lifetime of memories on the golf course, Nicklaus, Palmer and Player said their day in Bristol won’t be one they forget any time soon.

“My day was spectacular,” Nicklaus said. “Absolutely spectacular.”

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