The Gary Player Invitational will make its Upstate debut next week with plenty of help from professional golfers and celebrities alike, including Jack Nicklaus.
The Cliffs Communities, which is hosting the fund-raising event Sept. 29-30 at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls and the Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards courses, will welcome a field of 72 pro golfers and celebrities playing in a pro-am format with 72 amateur players.
A tentative list of participants announced Monday includes Player, Nicklaus and fellow pro Bruce Fleisher from the Champions Tour; former Clemson University standout Charles Warren and fellow PGA Tour members Stewart Cink, Lee Janzen and Johnson Wagner; and LPGA Tour players JoAnne Carner, Paige MacKenzie, Charlotte Mayorkas and Vicky Hurst.
In addition, celebrities scheduled to attend include NFL Hall of Famer Ed "Too Tall" Jones, NASCAR's Michael Waltrip, Olympian Dan Jansen, actors Kevin Sorbo, Alan Thicke, John Schneider, and Scott Elrod, singer B.J. Thomas and country music singer Con Hunley, among others.
The fundraiser -- which is the second of four on four different continents that comprise the 2008 Gary Player Global Series -- is not open to the public. It will benefit The Player Foundation, which supports children's charities.
"The reason we're having this is for the children,"
said Jamie Prince, spokesperson for The Cliffs Communities. "That's why all these folks are coming in."
The event has been held in south Florida for the past dozen years, Prince said, but is relocating to the Upstate along with Player's headquarters. The tournament will air on The Golf Channel on Oct. 20, 22 and 28.