Tim Burr, PGA of America teaching professional at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville will lead a team of five military veterans from Northern California in the PGA HOPE Secretary’s Cup on May 15 at Penfield Country Club in Penfield, N.Y.
The Secretary’s Cup is a nine-hole golf competition that kicks off PGA Championship week for the tournament that will be played at Oak Hill Country in Rochester, N.Y., and features military veterans who have participated in the PGA HOPE(Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) program hosted by their local PGA Sections.
“I’m absolutely delighted to meet and captain this team of great veterans, and get to play golf with them,” said Burr, who was selected winner of the 2014 Northern California Golf Association Patriot Award. “We played a practice round together a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun. It’s also been fun to play with some of them in a few of our scramble events.
“I support all of the PGA HOPE and PGA REACH programs, I’ve heard all the stories from these veterans, and I am glad to do what I can to help them. It’s great for them to get out of the house and golf helps them reunite with their comrades.
“Some of them have been through round times and golf can help them forget about those, at least for a while. Again, I’m just glad to be part of it and help where I can.”
The players participating from Northern California include John Reissenweber (United States Army) of San Francisco, Chris Paulsen (United States Navy) of Sacramento, Paul Oetinger (United States Army) of Roseville, and Valerie Gleeson (United States Army) of Davis.
The players will compete in practice rounds on May 14, the Secretary’s Cup on May 15, and all military veterans will have the opportunity to attend a PGA Championship practice round at Oak Hill Country Club on Tuesday, May 16.
PGA HOPE offers golf through a developmental, six- to eight-week curriculum taught by PGA Professionals trained in adaptive golf and military cultural competency. All programs are funded by PGA REACH and supplemented by PGA Section foundations, so the cost of programming is free to all Veterans.
In addition, PGA HOPE is being offered at more than 341 program locations in the United States today, across 47 States and in 40 PGA Sections. In 2022, the program positively impacted 7,500 veterans, and the 2023 goal is to lift that total to 11,000 or even more served.
The PGA Secretary’s Cup first was played in 2016 and is named after the Secretary of Veteran Affairs in recognition of the Memorandum of Understanding between PGA REACH and the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Each team is made up of four Veterans from a PGA HOPE program and one PGA or LPGA Professional.
PGA HOPE, the flagship military program of PGA REACH, is a rehabilitative golf program that introduces golf to Veterans to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.
Led by PGA Professionals, PGA HOPE has helped thousands of military veterans, and is the only adaptive golf program that has an MOU with the Department of Veterans Affairs, which enables Veterans Administration Facilities to refer Veterans to the PGA HOPE program as a form of therapy.
PGA Foundation, Inc., is the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the PGA of America. The mission of PGA REACH is to “Impact Lives Through Golf.”
For more information, visit PGAREACH.org and follow @PGAREACH on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.
