Putting Sport to Work

Phew! We did it.

With a good deal of help from a lot of friends we recruited 27 teams and 106 players for the first ever Ingram’s CEOpen Executive Golf Tournament and raised $62,500 for the American Cancer Society, The Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City and the Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute while we were at it.

For starters, let’s thank God—literally—for the good weather. If Monday, June 6, had been a replay of Friday, June 3, we would have been sunk.

We have to thank those organizations that sponsored and supported the CEOpen charitable golf tournament and the individuals who played in this year’s competition. We would also like to thank veteran pro Jim Colbert for coming out and putting on his clinic for our appreciative players.

A few years back, if you recall, there was much international fretting when the American Ryder Cup team exuberantly celebrated its victory. Golf is a game typically shrouded in decorum. But our Ryder Cup golfers were, for once, playing for a cause greater than their own pocketbook, and that was the honor of their nation. Plus, they were playing as a team. They now had colleagues with whom they could share their glory.

This was part of our thinking in constructing the CEOpen the way we did. One reason the tournament worked as well as it did is that we emphasized pure competition. Just like in business or at the Ryder Cup, at the CEOpen there are no mulligans or handicaps. We also asked the teams to designate a charity to receive their share of the winnings. This gave the teams an incentive beyond self-interest and definitely heated up the competition. The GPS leader board score-tracking system added a unique element, as it kept everyone up to date on what teams were scoring and how many holes they had completed.

Then too, there was the promise of getting one’s photograph in Ingram’s Magazine along with their teammates. Most of us haven’t seen our picture in a magazineor the paper or in for anything sports-related since high school, and there is a certain incentive there too—although, of course, no one will ever admit it.

We encourage CEOs and their executive teams to claim their position in the 2006 CEOpen Executive Golf Tournament (see page 55 for your Reservation Form). We also encourage good corporate citizens to claim their sponsor position in what could become one of the most distinctive and competitive golf tournaments of its kind in America.

Kansas City has a remarkable tradition of philanthropy. At Ingram’s, we have incorporated that tradition into our publication and have persuaded many of our publication colleagues throughout North America to do the same. In a similar vein, encouraged by the interest in and outcome of the tournament, we’ve established a federal trademark on “CEOpen” and will be working with corporate sponsors and our publication colleagues throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Australia to establish a framework to launch the CEOpen concept in their markets. While this business model won’t deliver sizeable corporate profits, it will deliver necessary funding for noble philanthropic causes in the Kansas City area and well beyond. It will also gives a lot of hard working executives an outlet for their competitive passion and a way to shine some glory on the companies that employ them.

In keeping with our philanthropic tradition, we hope to remind people everywhere that the Kansas City area is truly the heart of America and the home of the first CEOpen Executive Golf Tournament.

Thanks once again to all who supported and participated in this important, competitive and fun CEOpen charitable tournament. Be sure to “Claim Your Position” for the 2006 CEOpen that will be held on Monday, May 22nd at Shadow Glen-The Golf Club.

 

Regards,

Editor-In-Chief & Publisher

Editorial@IngramsOnLine.com