The Jake, which is an annual dinner, auction and pro-am golf tournament, broke its previous record of $1.5 million when it raised $2.2 million this year. Hosted at The Bear's Club, the highly-anticipated event raised funds for the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation for the tenth year in a row.
The special fundraising event has been held at The Bear's Club since 2005, after the passing of Jake Walter Nicklaus. Jake, who was the grandson of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, passed away when he was just 17 months old. The event was created by the Nicklaus family in Jake's honor.
Since the event's creation, it has donated $11 million toward the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, which was founded in 2004. The mission of the Foundation is to provide world-class health care to children suffering from childhood diseases and disorders. The Foundation is also committed to supporting cutting-edge programs that focus on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of these diseases.
Funds raised by The Jake have helped the Foundation establish the 21,500-square-foot Miami Children's Hospital Nicklaus Outpatient Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The state-of-the-art facility offers diagnostics and imaging, pediatric urgent care and rehabilitative services, including feeding, occupational, physical and speech therapy. The Foundation also has plans to add 11 pediatric subspecialists by the end of the year. Recently a partnership was formed that will involve helping the Jupiter Medical Center build a Level 2 Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit.
Jack Nicklaus participated in this year's event. Other participants included pros Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Briny Baird, Andy Bean, Chip Beck, Keegan Bradley, Luke Donald, James Driscoll, Ken Duke, Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Morgan Hoffman, Dustin Johnson, Steve Marino, Will MacKenzie, George McNeil, Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Nicholas Thompson, Cameron Tringale, and Camilo Villegas. The event was won by the team of Camilo Villegas, Marc Bibeau, Francois Duquette, Scott Bell and Raymond McFeetors.