Ascension Charity Classic presented by

Emerson at Norwood Hills This Week

By Tom Anselm

Hello again, sports fans! This is your intrepid reporter, Tom Anselm, coming to you from the stunning, verdant gem of a golf course called Norwood Hills Country Club.

Long-standing as one of North County’s premier clubs, this week it serves as the host to the PGA Champions TOUR event of The Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson.

Ascension is a faith-based health care organization serving 19 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, but including Arizona and New York.

Emerson, of course, we know as one of the most steadfast North County-based businesses, a world-wide systems and technology corporation.

So, those are the major sponsors of this event.

But just what is The Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson all about?

Top level, big name golfers, championship caliber, all over 50 years old will be battling it out on the beautiful fairways and greens of Norwood Hills. There will be ProAm events, putting contests, clinics for youth and lots of activities surrounding this, the second year of the classic Ascension has sponsored.

My focus will be on the ‘who’ and the ‘what’, more from behind-the scenes. Who benefits from this golf tournament in North County? What does Ascension do in the area?

There is a lot of ‘green’ that goes into a PGA event, and I’m not talking about just the grass. There are corporate sponsorships, charitable donations from participants in the Pro Am, television rights and advertising. The purse is over $2 million! (You can check out the proceedings on The Golf Channel for the three-day coverage starting with the first competitive round on Friday, September 9, noon to 3 pm.

So this is a very big deal for the area, and the St. Louis region as well, featuring some of the legends of the PGA, names like Ernie Els, John Daly, last year’s champion David Toms, Bernhard Langer and may senior players who can still bring it from the tee box and drop that 30-footer for birdie.

It’s going to be a fun time for me, as a late-to-the-game golfer, to see these well-known personalities tee it up. Also appearing in events will be Lee Trevino, Nancy Lopez, Ozzie Smith and Blues head coach Craig Berube.

Let’s also hear from the regular people without whom an event like this could not be conducted. The concessions workers, the security guys, the nurses who staff the first-aid center, the greenskeepers and even the guy who holds up the ‘Quiet’ as that 30-footer is being dialed in.

So, yeah, going to be interesting. With a cooperative weather forecast of sun and low 80’s, here’s looking to a very enjoyable week.

Stay locked into this site for my reports in the next few days, following this 54-hole stroke play no cut event, with the final round being Sunday, September 1.

“Fore!”

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