The Loop

Schwab Cup win and benevolence

November 02, 2009

SONOMA, Calif. - Champions Tour players have done good things with the $1 million annuity they have gotten from winning the season-long Schwab Cup competition, first awarded in 2001 to Allen Doyle.

Loren Roberts, who won his second Schwab Cup Sunday, is no exception. Among those benefitting from this victory may be high school golf programs in Sacramento, Calif., victimized by budget cuts. Roberts met several players and one of their fathers over the weekend at Sonoma GC.

"They were just great, great kids," Roberts said, "and I got to talking to [one's] dad. I think $35,000 covers nine schools' golf for the whole year. I said, 'Gosh, it just seems like that might be something I could be involved in or have a part in.' That's what the Schwab Cup allows us to do. It's fun to win it. It's an awesome challenge to play all year-long. But it [also] allows us to do some things in communties that maybe we wouldn't even know about."

Closer to his home in Memphis, Roberts already has been generous. "We have a good First Tee program," Roberts said. "We're trying to get a facility built. We have a facility there that we're allowed to use--the old army depot had a little nine-hole course with a little clubhouse and a driving range. And we have another driving range situation at the old Firestone tire plant in the New Chicago area of Memphis. They closed that down and the neighborhood just really went down. So we have about 98 acres over there. We have a driving range and a portable building. But like everybody else, we're struggling to find money."

-- Bill Fields