Golf Tournament Brings In More Than A Million Dollars In Eight Years
Monday, June 01, 1998
The eighth annual Loma Linda University Proton Charity Invitational was held on Monday, May 18, at The Club at Morningside in Rancho Mirage, California. Hosting the event for the eighth consecutive year was Ken Venturi, a CBS Sports golf analyst. Mr. Venturi has been involved with professional golf and golfers for most of his life. He learned his game from and competed against many golfing greats of the 1940s and 1950s, such as Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead. He is a contemporary of Arnold Palmer and his career overlapped that of Jack Nicklaus.
As a golf analyst, he has observed the careers of many great golfers of the 1970s,
1980s, and 1990s, such as Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Greg Norman, John Cook, Paul Azinger, Tiger Woods, and Ernie Els.
As a player, Mr. Venturi has had a long and distinguished career. In 1956, he was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team. He became a professional in 1957, and was, from the start of his PGA career, one of the leading golfers on the PGA tour. By 1960, he had won 10 tournaments.
After an automobile accident in 1961, Mr. Venturi’s game deteriorated. He could not win tournaments, and for a time, could not make a living as a professional golfer.
His response to that situation was work—he practiced his game over and over until he identified the flaws that had crippled his game. With more practice and work, Mr. Venturi restored his game to its former high level of competence.
In 1964, he competed in the Buick Open where he finished third. He was invited to the 1964 U.S. Open, which he won. Following that victory, he won two other tournaments in 1964 and was named PGA Player of the Year and Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated.
In 1965, Mr. Venturi had to face another challenge. He began to lose sensation in his hand and could not grip his clubs properly. He later learned that he had developed carpel tunnel syndrome. He underwent surgery to correct the problem. The success of that surgery enabled Mr. Venturi to resume his career. He won his 14th career tournament in 1966. By 1968, his hand had begun to atrophy again, and surgery could not help. Consequently, he retired from professional golfing.
"Loma Linda University Medical Center is grateful for the time that Mr. Venturi spends with us," says J. David Moorhead, MD, president and chief executive officer of Loma Linda University Medical Center.
"His work on behalf of this sporting and social event is also on behalf of the patients who come to the Proton Treatment Center. He does this because he cares about those patients."
Joining Mr. Venturi during the Proton Charity Invitational was John Cook, who the day before had won his 10th PGA championship at the prestigious GTE Byron Nelson Classic in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Cook specifically flew in for the tournament and the next day flew back to Dallas.
A resident of Rancho Mirage, Mr. Cook has become the mainstay of the Invitational. Former participants look forward both to seeing him again and to learning from one of the world’s finest golfers.
Mr. Cook won the Northeast Amateur and the United States Amateur championships in 1978. The following year he turned professional. Since then he has been one of the leading golfers on the PGA tour and was the third-leading money winner in 1991. He has won two international tournaments—the 1982 Sao Paulo Open in Brazil and the 1995 Mexican Cup.
One of Mr. Cook’s PGA victories was a masterpiece. In 1996, at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee, he shot a fourround total of 258, the second lowest stroke total in the history of the PGA tour. He missed tying the record by the slimmest of margins—his approach shot hit the pin.
"We are grateful to Mr. Cook for his contributions to the Proton Charity Invitational and to the patients who benefit from it," says James M. Slater, MD, FACR, chair, department of radiation medicine, and head of the Loma Linda University Proton Treatment Center at the Medical Center. "His skill, expertise, and delightful sense of humor are always welcomed by the participants and organizers of the invitational."
But the Proton Charity Invitational is not just a golfing event—it also serves as a special way to raise funds for continuing research at the Proton Treatment Center. To date, the tournament has raised more than $1.2 million during the past eight years.
More than 3,500 individuals have been treated at the Loma Linda University Proton Treatment Center since it opened in 1990.
