Chubb Classic: Ernie Els tackling Champions Tour and autism fundraising

Ernie Els is multi-tasking the next week or so at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

First, the four-time major winner is getting ready for the Chubb Classic presented by SERVPRO that starts Friday and goes through Sunday. Then he'll stay at Tiburón for a couple of days for a fundraising golf tournament Tuesday for the Ernie Els Autism Foundation, which is located in Jupiter.

Els' 18-year-old son, Ben, is autistic.

Els, 51, already had another fundraiser this week, playing at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto near Tampa on Monday. That one, which also benefited Black Diamond Ranch Foundation, featured 10 tour players, including Els, that had won a total of 16 major championships — Darren Clarke, Fred Couples, Lee Janzen, Tom Lehman, Rocco Mediate, Larry Mize, Corey Pavin Vijay Singh, and Mike Weir. Mediate and Els also hosted a clinic.

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"Ernie's been an incredible champion for autism with his son Ben," Weir said. "Whenever he asks and has something that's close by to Florida here and we're in the area, we're glad to be able to help out."

Martin Courtois, a Black Diamond resident, approached Els in Hawaii earlier in the year with the idea for the event.

So with April being Autism Awareness Month, it all made sense.

"(Courtois) came to me early in January ... and said that he wants to do a charity event, and he wanted our foundation to benefit," Els said. "I said, 'That sounds music to my ears.'

"... It was just a wonderful cause and wonderful day."

Els the golfer is still someone to be reckoned with, though. He is third on the PGA Tour Champions money list and has two victories in the combined 2020-21 season. 

"I'm loving it," he said. "It feels like home. We just had quite a few weeks off again. The guys are really ready to go. I can sense that. And we've got some tournaments coming up now, so it's really nice to have Chubb sponsor our event here. We have a great golf course here, great resort.

"It's one of the great things about the Champions Tour. We play on really great golf courses and resorts."

Golf and charities have a long and close-knit relationship. Many charities have golf tournaments and professional tours also give millions to charity. The Chubb Classic's host charity is The First Tee of Naples/Collier, for example.

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The PGA Tour celebrated going over $3 billion in all-time giving in 2020.

"That's one of the wonderful things of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour is that we are almost educated by the Tour how to give back because they do it every single week," Els said. "There's charity dollars being raised and being given back to local charities."

But, like Els, the tour golfers also have their own nonprofits they care deeply about.

"Each and every player has some kind of a cause they look after or is close to their heart," Els said. "Through the years, we all are affected by something somewhere in life. In our case it was autism. We felt a need to be able to do more in that field, and that's what we did. So that's kind of our niche."

"You go to the next player down the line, he's got some other thing that he supports. We're all supporting charity."

PGA Tour Champions golfer Peter Jacobsen, a Bonita Springs resident who also is an NBC golf analyst, was named the 2017 Ambassador of Golf and honored at Firestone Country club that year.

"I think we've always been a family," he said. "When you get your card and you're out here for a couple of years, you get to know everybody.

"It's really wonderful to see the players support the communities where they live, and Ernie creating his autism foundation, it's such a wonderful thing. It's not just for he and Ben and his family, it's for the community."

Els has had his Autism Golf Challenge, which hosts regional fundraisers around the country, but this will be the first in Naples. This event is currently second in the overall regional event fundraising competition, having raised more than $110,000 so far this year.

"I believe we have 88 players playing, all local people," Els said. "For us as Els for Autism Foundation, we are so blessed to have another new venue. We're trying to reach out to new markets, and this is a new market, especially with the Chubb Classic here in Naples and getting the event hosted here.

"We've got new people coming in, and hopefully they like what they see and they like our foundation."

Els said if someone raises more than $15,000, they will get a trip to the Bahamas.

"If you raise that kind of money, you're going to have a really good time," he said.

With a bonus courtesy of his 6-foot-3 son.

"Ben will definitely be coming to the Bahamas," Els said. "You have to come see his dance moves. He loves to party. He doesn't need an ounce of alcohol in him. He goes. He loves to dance. He loves to sing, and he likes to show off a little bit."

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/

Chubb Classic

Thursday Pro-Am Tee Times

No. 1 Tee

at Tiburón Golf Club, Black Course

8 a.m. — Brandt Jobe; 8:10 a.m. — David Toms; 8:20 a.m. — Jerry Kelly; 8:30 a.m. — Scott Parel; 8:40 a.m. — Ernie Els; 8:50 a.m. — Miguel Angel Jimenez; 9 a.m. — Vijay Singh; 9:10 a.m. — Rocco Mediate; 9:20 a.m. — Stephen Ames; 9:30 a.m. — Scott McCarron; 9:40 a.m. — Paul Broadhurst; 9:50 a.m. — Woody Austin; 10 a.m. — Bernhard Langer; 10:10 a.m. — Colin Montgomerie; 10:20 a.m. — Steve Stricker; 10:30 a.m. — Retief Goosen; 10:40 a.m. — Jeff Maggert; 10:50 a.m. — Lee Janzen; 11 a.m. — Jose Maria Olazabal; 11:10 a.m. — Sandy Lyle; 11:20 a.m. — Kirk Triplett; 11:30 a.m. — John Harris; 11:40 a.m. — Tom Lehman; 11:50 a.m. — Billy Andrade; Noon — Ken Tanigawa; 12:10 p.m. — Joe Durant; 12:20 p.m. — Marco Dawson; 12:30 p.m. — Mark O'Meara; 12:40 p.m. — Steve Flesch; 12:50 p.m. — Kent Jones; 1 p.m. — Fred Couples; 1:10 p.m. — Ian Woosnam; 1:20 p.m. — Tim Petrovic; 1:30 p.m. — Ken Duke

Friday's first-round tee times

at Tiburón Golf Club, Black Course

No. 1 Tee

7:45 a.m. — Cameron Beckman, John Huston, Chris DiMarco

7:56 a.m. — Loren Roberts, Steve Jones, Rod Pampling

8:07 a.m. — Stephen Ames, Peter Jacobsen, Olin Browne

8:18 a.m. — Scott Verplank, Jay Haas, Scott Dunlap

8:29 a.m. — Gene Sauers, Jesper Parnevik, Jeff Sluman

8:40 a.m. — Corey Pavin, Brad Faxon, Fred Funk

8:51 a.m. — Scott Parel, Kevin Sutherland, Bernhard Langer

9:02 a.m. — Retief Goosen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Ernie Els

9:13 a.m. — Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, Mike Weir

9:24 a.m. — Jose Maria Olazabal, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle

9:35 a.m. — Jerry Kelly, David Toms, Billy Andrade

9:46 a.m. — Vijay Singh, Scott McCarron, Darren Clarke

9:57 a.m. — Tom Lehman, Joe Durant, Paul Goydos

10:08 a.m. — Rocco Mediate, Marco Dawson, Steve Flesch

10:19 a.m. — Colin Montgomerie, Kirk Triplett, Woody Austin

10:30 a.m. — Jeff Maggert, Mark O'Meara, Brett Quigley

10:41 a.m. — Glen Day, Ken Tanigawa, Lee Janzen

10:52 a.m. — Paul Broadhurst, Wes Short Jr., Brandt Jobe

11:03 a.m. — Tim Herron, Tommy Armour III, Billy Mayfair

11:14 a.m. — Tom Pernice Jr., Doug Barron, Shane Bertsch

11:25 a.m. — Tim Petrovic, Kent Jones, Ken Duke

11:36 a.m. — David McKenzie, Duffy Waldorf, Scott Hoch

11:47 a.m. — David Frost, Tom Byrum, Frank Lickliter II

11:58 a.m. — Mark Brooks, Larry Mize, Robert Karlsson

12:09 p.m. — Michael Allen, John Harris, Alex Cejka

12:20 p.m. — Fran Quinn, Stephen Leaney, Tom Gillis

12:31 p.m. — Jesus Rivas, Robin Byrd, Craig Bowden