BATON ROUGE – A star-studded field of LSU celebrities and the golfers of the area helped LSU and NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal and LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones raise $200,000 for area flood relief in the sold out Sept. 16 SHAQ-Johnny Jones Golf Classic at Carter Plantation in Springfield.
While Shaq claimed to be the best golfer in the field with his putting skills, both O’Neal and Jones were able to meet and greet with the golfers before and during the morning and afternoon sessions of the event.
Golfers were also able to spend time with former LSU basketball players like Garrett Temple of the Sacramento Kings, Marcus Thornton of the Washington Wizards along with Tyrus Thomas, Carl Seiner, Ralph Jukkola, David Fleshman and Brandon Landry.
Former LSU football greats Justin Vincent and Eddie Fuller took part as well as former LSU and New Orleans saints running back Dalton Hilliard were seen hitting the golf ball around the course.
Plus, a person who definitely knows his way around the golf course – former LSU All-America and multiple tour winner and PGA major champion David Toms was joined by PGA Tour winner Smylie Kaufmann of LSU and LSU men’s NCAA Champion John Peterson.
“So many people came forward to help us out,” said Coach Jones in looking back at the event. “To all the golfers that came out and played, we appreciate your support. We couldn’t have done any of this without our sponsors. This really speaks volumes about what we were able to do here. To raise $200,000 in a single day, that is an amount of money that can really help people affected by this tragedy.”
Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital served as the tournament’s presenting sponsor and also sponsored the driving range. Bernhard Capital Partners was the putting green and golf cart sponsor, while Walk-On’s served as the scoreboard sponsor. DSLD and Robin Levy, D.D.S. sponsored the tee boxes and Crescent Crown was the event’s beverage sponsor.
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