Two million reasons to enter golf tournament

You don’t have to be a good golfer to want to be a part of the Tournament of Champions 2004, in fact, you only need to be able to hit one shot as the two day event gets underway Saturday, July 31 and continue through Sunday, August 1.

Security was on hand as organizers of the eighth annual tournament unveiled yesterday the prize money for the golfer that sinks a shot from 170 yards on hole number 18 on Lao Lao Bay Golf Course-West.

Placed on a table in bundles of $10,000, was a total of the $2,000,000 that the Bank of Hawaii is putting up for the tournament. Tournament organizer Ben Babauta was a little overcome when handling a portion of the prize money. One of the attendees at the unveiling pointed out that Babauta was holding $1,000,000 in his hands for a photo shoot, to which he said, “Oh my god, okay. Wow! Oh man, this is awesome.”

This is the eighth year that the ToC has been in existence, and the organizers are planning for this to be the best in the successful series.

During the tournament, the ToC organizers will pull one raffle ticket on Saturday and one on Sunday. The ticket holders will have the opportunity to take one shot at winning a million dollars by sinking the ball from 170 yards away on hole number 18. Both of the million dollar shots are sponsored by the Bank of Hawaii.

Players will be able to purchase raffle tickets before or during their rounds of play, and will also become part of a separate banquet raffle for plenty of additional prizes. Babauta said that a container arrived just yesterday, filled with the prizes for this year’s festivities.

There will also be two additional shots on Saturday and Sunday that are also valued at one million dollars each offered by other sponsors, to bring the total of single shot dollars to six million dollars in cold hard cash

According to Babauta, over 300 of the top golfers from around the region are expected to compete in what is widely regarded as one of the premier tournaments in the area.

The last day to qualify for the $175 Early Bird entry is Friday, July 23. All forms received after will have to pay $200. Due to the size of the tournament and the complexities involved with Walk-In Entries, Walk-Ins are highly discouraged.

All players must be registered in the tournament no later than 5pm on Friday, July 30. If you are not intending on golfing, you may also take part in the Calcutta-“Bidding” for players in the championship flight. Anyone can bid on any of the players in this flight that are paid by 6pm on Friday, July 30.

If you are interested in more information in the tournament, visit the tournament website at www.tocsaipan.org.