The Copperheads have a history of more than 30 years of aiding Tampa Bay area charities through professional golf. While this will be the second Transitions Championship with a purse of $5.4 million featuring a quality field of PGA TOURprofessionals, it is far from the first event for
The Copperheads.
Their first professional mixed-team competition was in 1977, and since 2000 they have been a full field PGA TOUR event. When their tournament was played in the fall, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and K.J. Choi (twice) were among the winners. Since joining the Florida Swing in the spring of 2007, Mark Calcavecchia and Sean O'Hair have triumphed. In 2009, Goosen joined Choi as a two-time winner of the event.
During the course of The Copperheads’ 33-year history, many of the great stars in men's and ladies' golf have appeared in their events – Arnold Palmer, Annika Sorenstam, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Beth Daniel, Curtis Strange, Ernie Els, Justin Leonard, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nancy Lopez, Phil Mickelson and many, many more.
The members of The Copperheads are Tampa Bay area community and business leaders with a two-fold reason for existing – one is to provide the golf fans of the area with a first-class professional golf tournament and the other is to raise funds for area charities. In the last five years, The Copperheads have raised more than $9 million for area charities to push their total since 1977 to approximately $24 million.
Nearly 100 Tampa Bay area charities actively participate in the Transitions Championship through Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities. This is a grass roots fundraising program designed to
give all 501(c)(3) charities an opportunity to raise money for their organizations based on the number of “birdies” made by contestants during the tournament. In addition to the charitable impact, the tournament has contributed more than $19 million to the local economy.
